Abstract
Background Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease that affects
the ability for sitting on the chair, standing, walking and climbing stairs and various
other daily living activities of an affected individual.
Objective The primary objective of the study was to assess the efficacy of Osteoarthritic nosode in the treatment of knee OA on the symptomatic and functional domains in comparison
to control group with knee-specific exercises as co-intervention in both the groups.
Materials and Methods It was a single blind randomised controlled trial study conducted at the out/inpatient
department of Dr Madan Pratap Khunteta Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital & Research
Centre and Dr Girendra Pal Homoeopathic Hospital, Homoeopathy University, Saipura,
Sanganer, Jaipur for a period of 1 year where cases were registered for first 9 months
so that minimum of 3 months follow-up can be obtained during the course of the study.
Total 50 patients who were radiographically diagnosed to be suffering from knee OA
excluding Grade 4 of knee OA were allocated equally and randomly into two treatment
groups. The patients in Group A received placebo and physiotherapy and patients in
Group B received Osteoarthritic nosode and physiotherapy. The changes in patients' symptomatic and functional domain were
evaluated by Knee Outcome Survey-Activity of Daily Living Scale (KOS- ADLS) questionnaire
score assessed at the baseline and after 3 months (six follow-ups at 15 days interval)
of treatment.
Results Out of 50 patients enrolled, 45 patients completed the trial. Those patients who
had completed 3 months of follow-up, that is, 6 follow-ups at 15 days interval, were
included in the study. The results showed that the patients with knee OA in Group
B had significant improvement in both symptomatic and functional domains after treatment
when compared with their initial status and when compared with Group A. Group A (placebo
and physiotherapy) showed non-significant to no improvement in 72% of cases and 16%
were aggravated when assessed on the symptomatic and functional domains. Group B (OA
nosode and physiotherapy) showed mild to marked improvement in 80% of cases, whereas
12% showed non-significant to no improvement when assessed on the symptomatic and
functional domains.
Conclusion Osteoarthritic nosode with physiotherapy is significantly effective than placebo with physiotherapy in the management of cases of knee OA.
Keywords knee osteoarthritis - RCT study -
Osteoarthritic nosode
- placebo - physiotherapy - KOS-ADLS questionnaire
