Clinical effectiveness of peloid therapy in knee osteoarthritis: a three-year retrospective study of 329 patients

This single-center retrospective study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of peloid therapy in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology, with a radiographic grade of at least 2 according to the Kellgren-Lawrence radiographic grading system, and who received at least seven sessions of peloid therapy to the knee were retrospectively analyzed between January 2023 and January 2026. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 329 patients were included in the analysis. High-organic-content peloid was heated to approximately 47-48 °C and locally applied to the knee area for approximately 20 min per session, with patients receiving a total of 7-15 treatment sessions over 2-3 weeks. The primary endpoint of the study was defined as the change in the WOMAC total score, while the secondary endpoints included WOMAC subscales, VAS pain, VAS global, VAS physician, and HAQ scores. Statistically significant improvement was observed in all post-treatment clinical assessment parameters compared to pre-treatment (p < 0.001). An average decrease of 33.64 points in the WOMAC total score, approximately 38 points in the VAS pain score, and 0.69 points in the HAQ score was observed. Effect size values ranged from 1.00 to 1.57, indicating a very large treatment effect. In the responder analysis, clinically significant improvement was observed in 67.2% of patients. These findings suggest that peloid therapy may provide significant improvement in pain and functional status in patients with knee osteoarthritis and may be an effective complementary treatment option in clinical practice. However, prospective and controlled studies are needed to support these findings with stronger evidence. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.