Background: Industrial workers often have musculoskeletal disorders due to the nature of their work.
Objective: The goal was to investigate the scientific use of polyherbal gel in relieving pain and stiffness due to musculoskeletal injuries and improving activities of daily living (ADLs) in industrial workers.
Methods: A pragmatic, single-blinded, randomized control study divided 200 musculoskeletal injury patients into four parallel groups (n = 50). Groups 1 and 2 were applied polyherbal gel via phonophoresis with therapeutic ultrasound and superficial massage. Groups 3 and 4 received diclofenac diethyl-ammonium 1% gel by phonophoresis and superficial massage. The Global Pain Relief Scale, Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) were used to measure pain, stiffness, and ADLs. Data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired t-test to compare mean±SD of four independent groups before and after gel application. The confidence interval was 95%, with p < 0.05 considered significant.
Results: The results revealed that polyherbal gel reduced pain (NPRS, WOMAC and Global pain relief scales) more efficiently (p≤0.000) when applied with phonophoresis as compared to applied with massage and standard diclofenac (p≤0.005), furthermore, polyherbal gel when applied with phonophoresis showed more efficient results.
Conclusion: Industrial workers with musculoskeletal injuries benefited from the use of polyherbal gel for pain and inflammation relief. The polyherbal gel is natural, cost-effective, and easy to formulate.
Keywords: Polyherbal gel; anti-inflammatory; anti-nociceptive; musculoskeletal injuries; phonophoresis.