Effects of cassava wax immersion on pain, pressure pain threshold, and upper extremity function among patients with trigger finger.
Narongsak Khamnon, Vitsarut Buttagat, Sittiporn Punyanitya and 3 others
Ultrasound plus cassava wax immersion produced significantly greater pain relief than ultrasound alone in trigger finger, though both groups improved on all measures.
Small single-centre trial (38 patients, 4 weeks) — promising but not definitive.
Key findings
1Both groups showed significant pain reduction from baseline, but the experimental group (ultrasound + cassava wax) had significantly greater pain reduction than the control group (ultrasound alone) at every post-treatment time point.
2The experimental group showed significantly greater increases in pressure pain threshold than the control group at the immediate and short-term time points, while the control group's PPT improved significantly only at the short-term point.
3Both groups reduced the frequency of finger-locking episodes, but no significant between-group difference was found for this outcome.
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What it does not show
Only 38 participants (19 per group) at a single site in northern Thailand, limiting generalisability and statistical power for smaller effects. Follow-up was 1 month after a 4-week intervention; whether the added benefit of the wax bath persists beyond that is unknown. Single-blind design: patients knew whether they received the wax bath, which could bias self-reported outcomes such as VAS and DASH. The MCID thresholds used (VAS ≥ 2, DASH ≥ 10–15) are not specific to trigger finger, so the 'clinically meaningful' claim rests on borrowed cut-offs. The DASH items were re-grouped into five domains by the authors rather than using a validated subscale structure, so domain-level interpretation is tentative.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest declared. The study was funded by Mae Fah Luang University, the institution where it was conducted.
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