365 Ways #181–Take 2 Ginger and call me in the morning

#181--according to research reported in The Journal of Pain (published by the American Pain Society), daily doses of raw or heat-treated ginger are effective for relieving muscle pain following strenuous exercise.

Research, and thousands of years of Chinese medicine, has shown that ginger has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties similar to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (without the kidney or liver repercussions). In one study, four to 36 weeks of daily ginger doses (30 to 500 mg.) achieved reductions in knee pain from osteoarthritis.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Georgia College and State University examined the efficacy of multiple days of ginger doses for relieving experimentally induced muscle pain from 18 eccentric muscle exercises. For the study, volunteers were tested on 11 consecutive days while taking ginger supplements. 74 students were divided in three groups given either raw ginger, heated ginger or placebo. The study showed that pain ratings after exercise were lower by an average of 24% in the two ginger groups compared to placebo subjects.