GINGER FOR SORE MUSCLES?

January 17, 2011, 12:49 pm
Soothing Sore Muscles With Ginger
By KAREN BARROW

Can a dose of ginger help you recover after a workout?

In this week’s “Really?” column, Anahad O’Connor examines whether ginger, the popular remedy for a queasy stomach, can also reduce soreness after exercise. In one study, he writes:

Scientists recruited 74 adults and had them do exercises meant to induce muscle pain and inflammation. Over 11 days, the subjects ate either two grams of ginger a day or a placebo. Ultimately, the ginger groups experienced roughly 25 percent reductions in exercise-induced muscle pain 24 hours after a workout.

In a similar double-blind study, scientists compared what happened when subjects consumed either two grams of ginger or a placebo one day and then two days after exercise. The ginger appeared to have no effect shortly after ingestion. But it was associated with less soreness the following day, leading the researchers to conclude that ginger may help “attenuate the day-to-day progression of muscle pain.”

To learn more read the full story, “The Claim: Eating Ginger Helps Reduce Muscle Pain and Soreness,” and then please join the discussion below.

MY THOUGHTS

if more and more people will try taking ginger and prove that it's truly an alternative medicine, the priceof this yellow crop will most certainly go up. sore throat, inflammation,indigestion and now sore muscles. move over alaxan!