British Journal of Rheumatology 1994;33:148-151 SHORT AND LONG-TERM EFFECT OF SPA THERAPY IN CHRONIC

The effect of spa therapy on chronic low back pain (LBP) was assessed in a randomized trial comparing patients under-going a 3-week therapy programme in a spa resort in France {n = 50) with patients receiving ambulatory care (n = 52). After 3 weeks, patients in the spa group had significant improvement in their spine mobility and functional score (Waddell index) and a reduction in their daily duration of pain, pain intensity and drug consumption. The long-term effect was assessed after 9 months and showed continued reduction in pain and drug consumption, and improvement in spine mobil-ity but no longer in functional score which returned to baseline level. It is concluded that spa therapy has a positive short-term and a moderate long-term effectiveness on chronic LBP. KEY WORDS: Balneotherapy, Clinical trial, Low back pain. SPA therapy for low back pain (LBP), as developed in many European resorts, is generally a therapeutic pro-gramme comprised of physiotherapy with hydrother-apy administered in various forms using mineral spring waters at the spa resort. It is usually extended over a full 2- to 3-week period. Programmes vary from one spa to another, depending on the hydromineral wate