Efficacy of Herbal Steam Bath in Reducing Muscle Pain: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of herbal steam bath in muscle pain. The subjects were males and females aged 20-60 years old with muscle pain and were out-patients at the Thai Traditional and Integrated Medical Hospital, Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine. Sixty subjects who met the study criteria were equally randomized into 2 groups. The treatment group received herbal steam bath and the control group received steam bath without herbs for 30 min, 3 times a week for 4 consecutive weeks. The levels of pain as determined by patients using visual analog scale at week 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 were compared within and between groups before and after the treatment. It was found that the levels of pain on week 4 were significantly decreased in both groups, while the levels of pain either on baseline at week 0 or week 4 were not significantly different between the two treatment groups. The results showed that the both treatment appear to be able to significantly relieve muscle pain. There was no difference on the efficacy of steam bath with herbs and steam bath without herbs.