Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 17;13(1):7960.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35264-8.

The effect of sulfur baths on hemorheological properties of blood in patients with osteoarthritis

Aneta Teległów  1 , Joanna Seremak  2 , Joanna Golec  3 , Jakub Marchewka  3   4 , Piotr Golec  5 , Urszula Marchewka  4 , Marcin Maciejczyk  6 , Edward Golec  3
Affiliations

The effect of sulfur baths on hemorheological properties of blood in patients with osteoarthritis

Aneta Teległów et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Balneotherapy is an effective treatment method in various diseases and commonly used treatment modality among patients with musculoskeletal disorders. Sulfur baths are known for healing properties however effect on rheological properties is unstudied. Thus the aim of our study was to determine the effect of sulfur balneotherapy on hemorheological blood indices. A total of 48 patients with osteoarthritis were enrolled to the study. Blood samples were collected twice, before and after 3-week time period. We evaluated complete blood count, fibrinogen, hs-CRP and blood rheology parameters such as elongation index (EI), half-time of total aggregation (T1/2) and aggregation index (AI) analyzed with the Lorrca Maxis. Mean age of studied cohort was 67 ± 5 years. After sulfur baths WBC count was significantly decreased is studied group (p = 0.021) as well as neutrophile count (p = 0.036). Red blood cell EIs were statistically higher after sulfur baths in shear stress ranging from 8.24 to 60.30 Pa. T1/2 was significantly higher (p = 0.031) and AI lower (p = 0.003) compared to baseline. No significant changes in fibrinogen and hs-CRP were observed. It is the first study that evaluate effect of sulfur balneotherapy on rheologic properties of blood. Sulfur water baths may improve erythrocyte deformability and aggregation parameters.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Elongation index (EI)–shear stress (SS) curves for RBC in studied groups. *p < 0.05 compared to baseline and controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Helliwell PS. An appraisal of medicinal spa therapy for rheumatological disorders. J. R. Soc. Health. 1989;109:3–7. doi: 10.1177/146642408910900103. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nasermoaddeli A, Kagamimori S. Balneotherapy in medicine: A review. Environ. Health Prev. Med. 2005;10:171–179. doi: 10.1007/BF02897707. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sukenik S, Flusser D, Abu-Shakra M. The role of spa therapy in various rheumatic diseases. Rheum. Dis. Clin. N. Am. 1999;25:883–897. doi: 10.1016/s0889-857x(05)70108-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kesiktas N, Karakas S, Gun K, Gun N, Murat S, Uludag M. Balneotherapy for chronic low back pain: A randomized, controlled study. Rheumatol. Int. 2012;32:3193–3199. doi: 10.1007/s00296-011-2163-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Legwant Z, Gawęda J, Legwant-Wójcicka M, Kornecki W. Evaluation of comprehensive spa treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee at the “Włókniarz” sanatorium in Busko-Zdrój. Med. Stud. Med. 2013;29:167–170. doi: 10.5114/ms.2013.36887. - DOI

Publication types