Natural Healing: Ginger Helps Ease Symptoms of Osteoarthritis

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Warming, stimulating ginger has been used for more than 2,500 years in Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of musculoskeletal complaints, including osteoarthritis. While research has documented ginger’s effectiveness against nausea and vomiting, few studies have investigated its reputation for relieving symptoms of arthritis. Now, a placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted in the United States offers preliminary scientific support for this important traditional use of ginger.

The study, which involved 261 people with moderate-to-severe pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee, showed that ginger was significantly more effective than a placebo in relieving arthritis pain. The concentrated ginger extract used in this study was made from a combination of two plants in the ginger family, Zingiber officinale (common ginger) and Alpinia galanga (galangal, a related Southeast Asian plant used both as a spice and in traditional medicine).

For the six-week study, the participants were randomly divided into two equal groups and underwent a one-week “washout” period during which they took no arthritis medications. Next, the people in the ginger group took two 255-mg ginger extract tablets twice daily, while those in the placebo group received identical-looking tablets containing coconut oil. All study participants were permitted to use acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) as “rescue” pain relief if needed, up to a maximum of 4 g daily.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print