INTRODUCTION: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a very common degenerative process that increases with age, is slowly progressive, and leads to articular cartilage destruction. It has been determined that especially falling asleep, frequent sleep interruption, and waking up early are the main sleep problems in patients with arthritis. In the international treatment guidelines of patients with osteoarthritis, follow-up is primarily done by combining pharmacological treatments with non-pharmacological treatments. Another important treatment method is spa therapy. In this study, we tried to understand the effectiveness of the treatment by following the sleep quality index and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score values of the patients with osteoarthritis who received physical therapy or spa treatment in an inpatient or outpatient setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized controlled study was conducted in Kutahya Yoncali Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital on 122 patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis between 2012 and 2014 and admitted to the inpatient or outpatient program. The cases were divided into 5 groups. Group 1 is the control group. Group 2 consisted of outpatient physical therapy. The third group consisted of 16 patients who received outpatient spa treatment. The fourth group was hospitalized for 15 days and 1-hour physical therapy. The fifth group consisted of 31 patients who received inpatient spa treatment. The patients were evaluated before the treatment (1st measurement), at the end of the treatment (2nd measurement). Pain assessments (VAS), physician's and patient's global assessment were made with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). RESULTS: According to the cut-off value of the PSQI total score, a decrease in sleep quality was detected in 86.5% of the patients (PSQI > 5). A significant difference was found especially between the entry and exit PSQI values in group 4 cases. (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: As a result, OA is a degenerative process that is frequently encountered in daily practice and that impairs sleep quality, as sleep quality disorder increases, movement disorders and pain that limit daily life increase. One of the most effective treatments in non-pharmacological treatment is spa and balneotherapy. As a result of our observations and study, we think that inpatient physical therapy and spa treatment made a significant improvement in the patient's pain scores and contributed positively to the treatment process by increasing the sleep quality.

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