EFFECTIVENESS OF PARAFFIN WAX BATH TREATMENT IN OSTEOARTHITIS
INTRODUCTION
The earliest and most common and persistent symptom of osteoarthritis is pain. Apart from pain other symptoms include tenderness swelling, crepitus and dysfunction (Myrer, Johnson, Mitchell, Measom & Fellingham, 2011). Clinically hand osteoarthritis can be classified as nodular, thumb based, generalized or erosive (Center for disease control, United States 2005). Among main factors influencing the development of hand osteoarthritis are age, joint location, genetic predisposition, joint deformity, joint hypermobility, obesity, trauma and gender. The extend of disability influenced by osteoarthritis is often underestimated, the limitations imposed on the performance of activities of daily living such as dressing, feeding may have considerable effect on the quality of life of those who have had osteoarthis . Both non medical and medical treatment modes are used to relieve pain. The goal of treatment is to minimize pain, maintain or improve joint function and quality of life. Medical regimes have unwanted side effects in the gastrointestinal, renal, and pulmonary systems. This makes it necessary to find a solution for pain relieving without unwanted side effects. Local application of heat, such as paraffin baths, hot packs, and ultrasound are recommended for the treatment of hand osteoarthritis by the European League Against Rheumatoid (Dilek, Gözüm, Sahin, Baydar, Ergör, El, Bircan & Gülbahar, 2013). Use of paraffin bath could be a solution.
AIM
The aim of this writing is to find out about the effectiveness of paraffin bath in pain relief in osteoarthritis. Research question: How effective is the use of paraffin bath in pain relief of osteoarthritis?
METHODS
I used Karonliska University online library to search for articles through pubmed. Through search of articles and journals I found three articles. After reading the abstracts I used them for the literature search. My key words used are “arthritis”, “paraffin wax bath”, “pain” and “hand”.
PARAFFIN WAX BATH
Use of paraffin baths to relieve pain is not new, its therapeutic effects in treatment of osteoarthritis were recognized as early as 1920 and is still recognized up to today (Myrer et al., 2010). Less evidence of its benefits is available in literature, vivo studies have shown that paraffin bath causes temperature rise of 7.5 degree centigrade in the joint capsule and 4.5 in the muscle. The bath results in the therapy have a local effect of relaxing the smooth muscle fiber in arterioles, which in turn results in the vasodilation of the peripheral blood vessels. This produces hyperemia, increased lymph flow and the absorption of exudates. The use of paraffin bath does not have any unwanted side effects contrarily to the medicinal treatment (Dilek et al., 2013).
A study was carried out in two groups of patient with arthritis, one group underwent paraffin therapy 5 times a week and the other only took painkillers to relieve pain, in the same period of time(3 weeks). In the study, paraffin bath therapy reduced pain and tenderness and alleviated the pain and stiffness. Significant improvement in motion, reduction of pain and tenderness of hand joint was marked .Dellhag et al reported that a combination of paraffin bath therapy and exercise was more effective than exercise alone for treating arthritis .They found a better improvement of grip function and Range of motion in the group undergoing paraffin bath therapy followed by exercises. In this same study they found out significant deterioration in terms of right and chuck pinch strength in the group taking painkillers alone and the strengths were maintained in the paraffin group persons.
In another study done, the paraffin bath group reduced pain
CONCLUJSION
Paraffin bath is effective in reducing pain, tenderness, maintaining muscle strength in hand osteoarthritis
REFERENCES
1 Topic analgesic added to paraffin enhances paraffin bath treatment of individuals with hand osteoarthritis Joseph William Myer, Aaron Wayne Johnson et al
2 Efficiency of paraffin bath therapy in hand osteoarthritis ,Banu Dilek ,MD, Mehtap Gozium ,et al
3 Efficacy of paraffin wax bath with and without joint mobilization techniques in rehabilitation of post traumatic stiff hand Fozia Sibtain,Asghar Khan Et al