The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Review: Ginger to treat pain

    Zingiber officinale, commonly known as ginger, has been used to treat pain, among other things.

    Prof. Ernst and colleagues from the University of Exeter, in the UK reviewed the evidence for the use of ginger to treat any type of pain.

    First, the details.

    • 7 published articles, reporting 8 studies (481 participants), were included in the review.
    • Jadad ratings for the quality of the research ranged from 2 to 5 (on a 1 to 5 [highest score] scale).

    And, the results.

    • 6 studies (2 for osteoarthritis, 1 for dysmenorrhea, and 3 for experimentally induced acute muscle pain) reported that Z. officinale reduced subjective pain reports.

    The bottom line?

    The authors concluded, “The available data provide tentative support for the anti-inflammatory role of Z. officinale constituents, which may reduce the subjective experience of pain in some conditions such as osteoarthritis.

    However, the authors also suggest more research to confirm their tentative conclusion

    1/16/12 21:33 JR

    Comments are closed.