Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Comfrey root ointment reduced arthritic pain by 54%.
In a 2007 study (1), 220 subjects (153 women, 67 men) with an average age of 58 and diagnosed knee arthritis for an average of 6.5 years were instructed to apply 2 grams of comfrey root ointment or placebo 3 times per day for 3 weeks. Subjects completed a visual analog pain scale during 4 visits over the 3-weeks study, marking their pain levels on a 100 millimeter line, from 0 mm (no pain) to 100 mm (worst pain), and a Western Ontario and McMasters Universities (WOMAC) 24-question survey about their knee arthritis (2) In addition, they completed survey about their quality of life during the study, the SF-36 questionnaire (3) at each visit.
After 3 weeks, those in the comfrey root group saw a 54.7% decrease in their visual analog pain scores (a 51.6-millimeter decrease) compared to a 10.7% drop in the placebo group (a 10.1-millimeter decrease, p < 0.001). For the WOMAC score, those in the comfrey ointment group saw a 58% decrease (a 60.4-millimeter decrease) compared to a 14.1% decrease in the placebo group (a 14.7-millimeter decrease, p < 0.001). For the SF-36 score, those in the comfrey ointment group saw a 38.1% increase in physical function (11.9-point increase) compared to a 4.2% increase in physical function (1.3-point increase) in the placebo group (p < 0.001).
For the researchers, “The results suggest that the comfrey root extract ointment is well suited for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.”
Source: Grube, B., et al. “Efficacy of a comfrey root (Symphyti offic. radix) extract ointment in the treatment of patients with painful osteoarthritis of the knee: results of a double-blind, randomised, bicenter, placebo-controlled trial.” Phytomedicine 14.1 (2007): 2-10.
© 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Posted July 17, 2014.
References:
- Grube B. Efficacy of a comfrey root (Symphyti offic. radix) extract ointment in the treatment of patients with painful osteoarthritis of the knee: Results of a double-blind, randomised, bicenter, placebo-controlled trial. Phytomedicine 2007; 14: 2–10
- Stucki, G., Meier, D., Stucki, S., Michel, B.A., Tyndall, A.G., Dick, W., Theiler, R., 1996. Evaluation einer deutschen Version des WOMAC (Western Ontario und McMaster Universities) Arthroseindex. Z. Rheumatol. 55, 40–49.
- Bullinger, M., 1995. German Translation and psychometric testing of the SF-36 health survey: preliminary results from the IQOLA project. Soc. Sci. Med. 41, 1359–1366.
