Efficacy of Individualized Homoeopathic Medicines in Treatment of Cervical Spondylosis: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Cervical spondylosis (CS) is a degenerative condition of the cervical spine, with approximately 80-90% people suffering from disc degeneration by the age of 50 years. This trial attempts at evaluating efficacy of individualized homeopathic medicines (IHMs) against placebos in treatment of CS. A 3-months, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at the Organon of Medicine outpatient department of National Institute of Homoeopathy, India. Patients were randomized to receive either IHMs (n=70) or identical-looking placebos (n=70) in the mutual context of concomitant conservative and standard physiotherapeutic care. Primary outcomes measures were 0-10 Numeric Rating Scales (NRSs) for pain, stiffness, numbness, tingling, weakness and vertigo, and secondary outcome was Neck Disability Index (NDI); measured at baseline and every month, until 3 months. Intention-to-treat sample was analyzed to detect group differences and effect sizes. Overall improvements were higher in the IHMs group than placebo, but group differences were statistically non-significant with small effect sizes(all P>0.05, two-ways repeated measure analysis of variance). After 2 months of timepoints, improvements observed in the IHMs group were significantly higher than placebo on few occasions (e.g., pain NRS: P<0.001; stiffness NRS: P=0.024; weakness NRS: P=0.003). Sulphur (n=21; 15%) was the most frequently prescribed medicine. No harms, unintended effects or any serious adverse events were reported from either group. An encouraging, but a non-significant direction of effect was elicited favoring IHMs against placebos in treatment of CS.