1 in 4 Arthritis Patients Use Complementary Alternative Therapies

Greater numbers of patients engage complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) to help manage a variety of medical issues.   Nada Alaaeddine, from the University of St Joseph (Lebanon), and colleagues interviewed 250 patients aged between 20 and 90 years of age. More than two-thirds (67%) had rheumatoid arthritis and the remainder had osteoarthritis.   They found that 23% used CAT in addition to prescribed drugs and that just under two-thirds of those (64%) felt that the therapy was beneficial, reporting improvements in pain intensity, sleeping patterns and activity levels. The investigators found that the most common CAT used was herbal therapy (83%), followed by exercise (22%), massage (12%), acupuncture (3%), yoga and meditation (3%) and dietary supplements (3%). Asked to rate the amount of pain they felt, 43% of CAT users reported no pain (up from 12% pre-CAT).  Not only did the number who slept all night rise from 9% to 66%, CAT users also reported an improvement in daily activities. The percentage who said that their pain did not limit them at all rose from 3% to 12%.