Effects of rehabilitation therapy in patients with psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

Objective. Our main goal in this study was to determine whether or not in addition to classical and biological treatments, rehabilitation treatment had any benefit in the evolution of the psoriatic arthritis. Material and methods. We evaluated two groups of patients, classified according to their basic therapies, namely classical treatment of psoriatic arthritis (methotrexate) and biological treatment respectively. Besides drug treatment, one of the groups (study group) received rehabilitation treatment with different methods of application (hydrotherapy, kinetotherapy). Outcomes. An important result driven from the data evaluation was that patients who, in addition to the background treatment, whether biological treatment or classic, had also associated the rehabilitation therapy had better results in improving the quality of life and reducing the progression of the inflammatory syndrome (DLQI had better results in 93.1% in the study group vs 68.97% in control group). Conclusions. Seeing only the benefits of rehabilitation therapy, we can say that, if it were added to the patient’s treatment plan, it would lead to a slow evolution of the disease and a change in the quality of life for the better.

Keywords

• psoriatic arthritis
• biological treatment
• rehabilitation
• clinical evaluation