Radon Spa Therapy for the Treatment of Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Emerging evidence indicates that radon spa therapy can confer beneficial effects on pain alleviation and quality of life in individuals with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This meta-analysis aims to systematically synthesize the available literature examining the clinical outcome of radon spa therapy on patients with MSDs. A search of PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses from the inception of the database to June 2025. Studies were included if they reported outcomes for pain intensity, functional capacity, or quality of life/health status using validated measures after treatment with radon spa. Overall, eight studies met the inclusion criteria with 2,152 patients and a mean of 7.9 ± 2.2 months of follow-up. The mean Modified Coleman Score was 70.25 (out of 100), indicating a good methodological quality. The meta-analysis of pain intensity revealed significant effects of radon spa treatment versus controls in the medium to long-term period. The pooled effect size difference was 0.2720 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.1204 to 0.4237, p = 0.0004), with low heterogeneity (I² = 43.28%, Q = 6.87, p = 0.1431). For the overall radon spa treatment effect compared to baseline, the medium to long-term period showed a pooled Hedges' g of 0.9936 (95% CI = 0.0801 to 1.9070, p = 0.033), indicating a statistically significant therapeutic effect of radon spa treatment in patients with MSDs. There is good-quality evidence to show that radon spa therapy is significantly better compared to placebo in reducing pain at the medium to long-term follow-up of patients suffering from MSDs. Based on these results, radon spa therapy can be considered an effective alternative to other conservative means in the management of MSDs.