Abstract
Ginger has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, but its effect
on human muscle pain is uncertain. Heat treatment of ginger has been suggested to
enhance its hypoalgesic effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects
of 11 days of raw (study 1) and heat-treated (study 2) ginger supplementation on muscle
pain. Study 1 and 2 were identical double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized experiments
with 34 and 40 volunteers, respectively. Participants consumed 2 grams of either raw
(study 1) or heated (study 2) ginger or placebo for 11 consecutive days. Participants
performed 18 eccentric actions of the elbow flexors to induce pain and inflammation.
Pain intensity, perceived effort, plasma prostaglandin E2, arm volume, range-of-motion and isometric strength were assessed prior to and for
3 days after exercise. Results Raw (25%, –.78 SD, P = .041) and heat-treated (23%, –.57 SD, P = .049) ginger resulted in similar pain reductions 24 hours after eccentric exercise
compared to placebo. Smaller effects were noted between both types of ginger and placebo
on other measures. Daily supplementation with ginger reduced muscle pain caused by
eccentric exercise, and this effect was not enhanced by heat treating the ginger.
Perspective
This study demonstrates that daily consumption of raw and heat-treated ginger resulted
in moderate-to-large reductions in muscle pain following exercise-induced muscle injury.
Our findings agree with those showing hypoalgesic effects of ginger in osteoarthritis
patients and further demonstrate ginger's effectiveness as a pain reliever.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 26, 2010
Accepted:
December 21,
2009
Received in revised form:
October 22,
2009
Received:
September 3,
2009
Footnotes
Supported by the McCormick Science Institute.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- RETRACTED: Concentric and Eccentric ExerciseThe Journal of PainVol. 14Issue 11
- PreviewThis article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy ). This article has been retracted at the request of the Publisher. Similar versions of this Letter to the Editor were published in other scientific journals. This is considered to breach publication guidelines adhered to by The Journal of Pain. This article has already been published in several places including: J Hum Kinet 37:5-6, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2013-0019 ; J Sports Sci Med 12:608-609, 2013; Sports Health 5:306, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1941738113491386 ; J Ultrasound Med 32:2047-2048, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.7863/ultra.32.11.2047 ; J Sports Sci Med 12:608-609, 2013; Acta Physiol Hung 100:355-356, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/APhysiol.100.2013.3.12 ; Enferm Clin 23:177-178, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enfcli.2013.05.001 .
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