Development of Knee Herb Hydrogel Patches for Relieving Knee Pain in Patients at Bang Mae Nang Health Promoting Hospital, Nontaburi Province, Thailand

Abstract

We conducted a research and development study with the following aims: to analyze the situations and problems in knee pain management of patients, to develop herbal hydrogel patch for knee pain, and to evaluate the effectiveness and users’ satisfaction of  knee pain relieving hydrogel patches. Our study samples including 60 patients with knee pain in Bang Mae Nang Tambon Health Promotion Hospital, Nontaburi Province, Thailand. Our participants were divided into two groups: thirty volunteers in a control group using knee pain relieving poultice, and 30 other patients in an experimental group using herbal hydrogel patches. We collected data using the Western Ontario and MacMaster University (WOMAC) scale for knee pain and satisfaction assessment form. We analyzed data using the independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test.

                We found that that massage, herbal ball compress, and knee poultice were applied by most patients for their knee pain management. But those methods were not convenient and sloppy. Therefore, we developed the knee herbal hydrogel patch to relieve knee pain of patients. We found that the knee pain and knee motion degree among patients in the control and experimental groups before and after using both products were not different at a statistical level of 0.05. However, the patients’ satisfaction after using both products in the control and experimental groups in general were different at a statistical level of 0.05.