Daily Ginger Consumption Found To Ease Muscle Pain

May 22, 2010

For centuries, ginger root has been used as a folk remedy for a variety of

ailments such as colds and upset stomachs. But now, researchers at the

University of Georgia have found that daily ginger consumption also reduces

muscle pain caused by exercise.

While ginger had been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, its

effect on experimentally-induced human muscle pain was largely unexplored, said

O'Connor, a professor in the College of Education's department of

kinesiology. It was also believed that heating ginger, as occurs with cooking,

might increase its pain-relieving effects.

O'Connor directed two studies examining the effects of 11 days of raw and

heat-treated ginger supplementation on muscle pain. Collaborators included Chris

Black, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Georgia College and State

University in Milledgeville, UGA doctoral student Matt Herring and Hurley,

an associate professor of population health in UGA's College of Veterinary

Medicine.

Participants in the studies, 34 and 40 volunteers, respectively, consumed

capsules containing two grams of either raw or heat-treated ginger or a placebo

for 11 consecutive days. On the eighth day they performed 18 extensions of the

elbow flexors with a heavy weight to induce moderate muscle injury to the arm.

Arm function, inflammation, pain and a biochemical involved in pain were

assessed prior to and for three days after exercise.

The studies showed that daily ginger supplementation reduced the

exercise-induced pain by 25 percent, and the effect was not enhanced by

heat-treating the ginger.

" The economic and personal costs of pain are extremely high, " said O'Connor.

" Muscle pain generally is one of the most common types of pain and eccentric

exercise-induced muscle pain specifically is a common type of injury related to

sports and/or recreation (e.g., gardening). Anything that can truly relieve this

type of pain will be greatly welcomed by the many people who are experiencing

it. "

The study, which will be published in the September issue of The Journal of

Pain, is currently available online at http://www.jpain.org/home. The study was

funded by the McCormick Science Institute.

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