Effectiveness of Thai Herbal Poultices on the Knees in Treating Osteoarthritis in the Elderly Patients at Mae Ramat Hospital Tak Province

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Thai herbal knee poultice therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis among elderly patients at Mae Ramat Hospital, Tak Province. A quasi-experimental research design with a one-group repeated measures approach was employed. The sample consisted of 20 elderly patients aged 60 years and older diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis, with pain scores ranging from 3 to 6, who received treatment at Mae Ramat Hospital. Pain intensity was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The participants were treated with a Thai herbal knee poultice formula consisting of nine herbal ingredients, applied once a week for three consecutive weeks, with each session lasting 20 minutes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results revealed that the mean knee pain score significantly decreased from 5.05 before treatment to 0.97 after the third treatment session. The findings indicated that the Thai herbal knee poultice therapy significantly reduced the severity of knee pain in elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis at a statistical significance level of p < 0.05.