Clinical effectiveness of mud pack therapy in knee osteoarthritis

Objective. The main objective of this study was to systematically review all the scientific studies that analyse the effectiveness of mud pack therapy on patients diagnosed with knee OA. Methods. One hundred and fifteen publications were identified through an electronic and manual search and 20 of those studies were chosen based on the inclusion criteria: randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews or meta-analyses whose objective was to analyse the effect of mud pack therapy on perceived pain, function and quality of life, with a sample size of epsilon 20 subjects, published since 2000 and showing conclusive results. Results. In the studies that met the inclusion criteria, 12 analyse functionality, 17 perceived pain, 5 quality of life and all showed a significant improvement in the three analysed variables. The methodological quality of the studies had a moderate risk of bias. Conclusion. Mud pack therapy is considered an alternative and effective therapy in the clinical management of knee OA. Studies with better methodology are needed to prove its scope.