Thai Massage, and Thai Herbal Compress versus Oral Ibuprofen in Symptomatic Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Table 7

100-mm VAS assessing physician’s and patient’s overall opinions of improvement evaluated during treatment.

Variable	Treatment group		Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
Patient’s overall opinion (mm)	TM	20	38.55 ± 20.46	60.00 ± 19.72	77.60 ± 16.01
	THC	20	57.10 ± 17.70^†	72.15 ± 17.82	85.65 ± 11.77
	Ibuprofen	18^π	51.70 ± 26.59	65.11 ± 25.07	78.11 ± 23.73
Physician’s overall opinion (mm)	TM	20	26.35 ± 9.89	36.90 ± 10.80	51.75 ± 10.83
	THC	20	42.75 ± 17.64^††	56.70 ± 15.89^††	66.05 ± 13.15^††
	Ibuprofen	18^π	33.90 ± 20.05	46.50 ± 24.68	55.28 ± 24.20

Data represent mean ± SD.
0 = no improvement, 100 = best possible improvement.
^π2 patients in the ibuprofen group could not be assessed due to being withdrawn during week 1.
^†Statistical significance versus TM (P = 0.010).
^††Statistical significance versus TM (P = 0.003 at week 1, P = 0.001 at week 2, and P = 0.009 at week 3).