Does mud pack treatment have any chemical effect? A randomized controlled clinical study
Key Findings
- 60 knee OA patients randomized to heated mud applied directly to skin (30 min/session, 15 sessions) vs. identical heated mud applied over an impermeable nylon barrier blocking skin contact (heat-matched control)
- Both groups showed significant decreases in WOMAC scores, pain intensity, disease severity index, and analgesic consumption
- The direct-contact group showed superior improvement sustained through follow-up compared to the barrier (heat-only) group
- Design isolates a chemical, non-thermal contribution of mud pack therapy, since both arms received equivalent heat exposure
Randomized controlled trial testing whether mud pack therapy has a chemical effect beyond heat delivery, in 60 patients with knee osteoarthritis. One arm received heated mud applied directly to the skin; the other received the same heated mud applied over an impermeable nylon barrier, matching heat exposure while blocking dermal contact with the mud itself. Both arms improved significantly on WOMAC, pain, disease severity, and analgesic use, but the direct-contact group improved more and sustained the advantage through follow-up — evidence that mud pack therapy’s benefit is not purely thermal.
Sourcing note
This entry replaces karagulle-2007, a citation withdrawn on 2026-09-16 as unverifiable: its DOI (10.1007/s00296-006-0253-9) resolved nowhere on doi.org or Crossref, no matching Karagülle knee-OA peloid RCT exists on PubMed, and the claimed journal location (Rheumatology International 2007;27(6)) is actually occupied by an unrelated Cantarini et al. paper (see cantarini-2007). Metadata and findings above verified directly against PubMed/NCBI (PMID 18564957) via NCBI E-utilities on 2026-09-16.
Where this source is used on this site
Each page below cites this paper as evidence for a specific claim. The note shows what the page draws from it.
RCT (n=60) — heated mud pack applied directly to skin vs. identical mud pack over an impermeable barrier (heat-matched control); direct-contact group had superior WOMAC/pain improvement, isolating a chemical effect beyond heat
RCT (n=60) — direct-contact mud pack vs. heat-matched barrier control; direct-contact group's superior improvement isolates a chemical, non-thermal anti-inflammatory contribution