Southern Thai Folk Herbal Recipes for Healing Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Osteoarthritis knee is common in elderly. Southern folk healers had knowledge of herbal recipes for osteoarthritis knee, but most folk healers had not been taught about the existence of such recipes. This qualitative study aimed to introduce and study in details of Thai southern folk herbal recipes for osteoarthritis knee by literature review and in-depth interview. Thai southern folk healers who had medical license for Thai traditional medicine and willing to share the herbal recipes were recruited. Of 48 licensed southern folk healers, 26 were willing to share the herbal recipes. There were only two of them had the herbal recipes for osteoarthritis knee, consisted of four recipes in total. Two folk healers had the similar principle to start the recipes with taste of herbs which categorized into hot poultices and cool poultices. Most herbs could be found in local area and choice of herbs was not based on research evidence. However, the main herbs of the herbal recipes had the pharmacological effect to reduce the inflammation of osteoarthritis knee.