EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF PAIN OIL TOPICALAPPLICATION WITH MASSAGE THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL

Background: Musculoskeletal pain affects nearly 30% of the population globally and is characterized by functional limitation, emotional distress, and reduced quality of life. The present study investigates the efcacy and safety of herbal pain oil application with massage in patients with musculoskeletal pain. Methods: In this open label, randomized trial, 64 patients with musculoskeletal pain (knee, shoulder, neck, and lower back), visited OPD of School of Physiotherapy, DPSRU were recruited. They were randomly assigned to two groups: control group treated with massage therapy only and pain oil group treated with massage therapy with Achoo herbal pain oil. The patients were evaluated at baseline (before treatment), during treatment at day 3, day 7 and day 15 (end of treatment) in terms of pain via visual analogue scale (VAS), application suitability via patients' global assessment (PGA) and safety via irritation scoring. The data were statistically analyzed. Results: The mean VAS pain score was signicantly (p < 0.05) lower in pain oil group compared to control at all the time points. The pain reduction was nearly 38% and 34% higher in pain oil group compared to control at day 3 and 15, respectively. Compared to baseline, 44.4% to 50.9% reduction in mean VAS score was observed in all the musculoskeletal pains. The PGA and irritation score of pain oil group was not signicantly different (p > 0.05) from control group indicating ease of application, lack of discomfort and safety of herbal pain oil. Conclusion: Topical application of herbal pain oil with massage was effective in relieving pain in patients with musculoskeletal pain without causing any systemic or local harm. However, multi-centric clinical studies are required to conrm the present ndings.