Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Randomized placebo-controlled study shows 2 grams of ginger exhibits 23-25 % reduction in pain.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are considered outside of conventional medical practices of medical or osteopathic doctors, though it is frequently used in conjunction with conventional medicine. Some forms of CAM include acupuncture, chiropractic, Ayurvedic medicine, massage, naturopathy, homeopathy, and diet-based therapy (1).
In the United States, approximately 38 percent of adults (about 4 in 10) and approximately 12 percent of children (about 1 in 9) are using some form of CAM (1). As previously mentioned, diet therapy is a characteristic of CAM, with one of the 10 most popular common natural products being ginger (2). It is ginger’s strong anti-inflammatory properties that have shown it useful for knee pain (3) and digestive health (4).
Now a new study (5) has found that ginger may help with muscle pain after exercise. In this research, two identical studies were conducted to test the effects of raw ginger (n=17) versus placebo (n=17) [study 1] and heated ginger (n=20) versus placebo (n=20) [study 2]. The components per gram of the raw ginger capsule were as follows: 4.1 mg of 6-gingerol, 1.9 mg of 10-gingerol, and 2.2 mg of 6-shogaol. The composition of the heated ginger capsule was 2.8 mg/g 6-gingerol, 1.0 mg/g 8-gingerol, 1.6 mg/g 10-gingerol and 2.6 mg/g 6-shogaol. Patients were given 2 grams of ginger or placebo for 11 days, during which they underwent specific strength tests. The patients then filled out surveys reporting their muscle soreness 1, 2, and 3 days after the exercises. They used a Visual Analog Scale to rate their soreness on a line between 0 (no pain) and 100 mm (worst pain).
The researchers found that 1 day after the exercises, those in the raw ginger group had 25% less muscle soreness compared to the placebo group and those in the heated ginger group had 23% less muscle soreness (p<0.5). Non-significant reductions were also observed in both ginger groups compared to placebo on day 2 and 3. Furthermore, pain relieving effects of both ginger groups were relatively the same. Researchers believed that 6-shogaol, a component of ginger thought to exhibit pain relieving effects, may not have been adequate enough to significantly enhance and even prolong the initial effects (of day 1), especially in the heated ginger group. Heating ginger increases the amount of 6-shogaol naturally.
In the end, according to the researchers, “This study demonstrates that daily consumption of…ginger resulted in moderate-to-large reductions in muscle pain following exercise-induced muscle injury” and that these results “further demonstrate ginger’s effectiveness as a pain reliever.”
Source: Black, Christopher D., et al. “Ginger (Zingiber officinale) reduces muscle pain caused by eccentric exercise.” The Journal of Pain 11.9 (2010): 894-903.
© 2010 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Posted January 27, 2014.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com
References:
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine website.
- Barnes PM, Powell-Griner E, McFann K, Nahin RL: Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults: United States, 2002. Adv Data 27:1-19, 2004
- “Ginger May Help with Arthritic Knee Pain” – see the NOW Foods website.
- “Ginger Shows Promise for Digestive Health In Children” – see the NOW Foods website.
- Black CD. Ginger (Zingiber officinale ) Reduces Muscle Pain Caused by Eccentric Exercise. Journal of Pain – printed online ahead of print – doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2009.12.013
- “Visual Analog Scale” – see the Blackwell Publishing website.
