The relation between major elements in the human body with using Benjakul remedy extract for treating primary osteoarthritis of knee

Abstract

Introduction: Benjakul (BJK) is a Thai traditional medicine remedy that is composed of 5 plants: fruits of Piper retrofractum. (Piperaceae), roots of Piper sarmentosum Roxb. (Piperaceae), stem of Piper interruptum Opiz. (Piperaceae), roots of Plumbaco indica Linn. (Plumbaginaceae) and rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe. (Zingiberaceae). It’s ethanolic extract also showed good anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities in vivo study. BJK extract seems to have efficacy similar to NSAIDs. That is a reason why Benjakul remedy extract was studied of efficacy and safety for treating primary osteoarthritis of knee but almost of the studies about Thai herbal medicine was lack of linking with Thai traditional medicine theory. Thai traditional medicine believes that human body composes of the four elements. Those are earth (thaad din), water (thaad naam), wind/air (thaad lom) and fire (thaad fai). Everybody has the major element that is determined since birth. Thus, the objective of this study was to study a relation between major elements in the human body with using Benjakul remedy extract for treating primary osteoarthritis (OA) of knee.

Method: The patients, who were diagnosed with primary OA knee, were treated with BJK remedy extract for 28 days. All patients received 100 mg of BJK extract capsules 3 times per day, orally after meals, the patients were followed up at 14 and 28 days. The changing of visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, 100-meter walk times and Modified Thai WOMAC index scores were evaluated for efficacy. For safety issue, clinical signs and symptoms, complete physical examination, renal and liver function were evaluated. Data were grouped by the patient’s human body element.

Result: The results showed that the changing of VAS pain score and 100-meter walking times of all major human body elements groups after taking BJK remedy extract were not significantly different from base line (day 0) but Modified Thai WOMAC index scores were significantly reduced (p < 0.05) except, the stiffness part of the earth element group. For safety, all four elements groups showed no toxicity in renal and liver functions after taking BJK extract for 28 days. All the renal and liver changing were not significantly different from base line (day 0) except the water element was significantly reduced. However, those clinical efficacy and safety issues were not significant different among the four major body element groups.

Discussion and Conclusion: The BJK remedy extract showed the good clinical efficacy in relieving symptoms of OA patients. It also had no toxicity on liver and renal function. However, all of this clinical efficacy and safety were not significantly different among the four major body element groups.

Key words: Major body element, Benjakul, Osteoarthritis of the knee

ความสัมพันธ์ของธาตุเจ้าเรือนกับประสิทธิผลการใช้ยาสารสกัดเบญจกูลในการรักษาโรคข้อเข่าเสื่อมปฐมภูมิ
ปัฐมาภรณ์ ราชวัฒน์*, ปิยะ ปิ่นศรศักดิ์**, อรุณพร อิฐรัตน์*^, ***