The Functional Herb Which Suppresses Osteoarthritis, With No Side Effects, Scientists Reveal

Arnica may have a substantial and positive effect in reduced risk and treatment of osteoarthritis, some scientists suggested.

Osteoarthritis (OA), a form of arthritis, is a chronic condition characterized by wear and tear on a joint due to aging,  affecting over 25 million people in the United States in alone.

 The University of Porto Medical School suggested that one must understand the differences in prevalence and incidence estimates of osteoarthritis (OA), according to case definition, in knee, hip and hand joints(3).

Most common symptoms of osteoarthritis are aching pain, stiffness, or difficulty of moving the joint or joints.

The pain usually gets worse in change of weather, at night and in the advanced diseases, the pain can occur even at rest. 

Today management of osteoarthritis (OA) focuses on pain relief and improved physical function through pharmacological, non pharmacological, and surgical treatments.

Unhealthy diet that cause nutrient deficiency and overload, damage of cartilage, joint injure that did not heal properly, overuse, auto immune rheumatoid arthritis also have potential effects in increased prevalence of osteoarthritis.

Arnica is a herbaceous species, genus perennial, belongings to the family Asteraceae, antive to Europe and Asia, used in herbal medicine for centuries to treat strains, sprains, and bruises.
Wound healing is process of repairing after damage of skin, tissues, organs, etc.

The ingredients
Helenalin, chamissonolid, Sesquiterpene lactone, lignans of the furofuran, dibenzylbutyrolactone, dibenzylbutyrolactol types, pinoresinol, epipinoresinol, phillygenin, matairesinol, nortrachelogenin, and nortracheloside, six dibenzylbutyrolactol derivative.

In a randomized, double-blind study of 204 patients to investigate the effect of ibuprofen (5%) and Arnica (50 g tincture/100 g, DER 1:20), as gel preparations in patients with radiologically confirmed and symptomatically active osteoarthritis of interphalangeal joints of hands, researchers found that after 21 days of treatment, group treated with Arnica extered a significant effect in relieve and function of the joints of hands similar to group treated with the conventional medicine.

4.8% in the Arnica group reported some tolerate adverse effects in compared to 6.1% in group treated with ibuprofen.

After taking into account of other co and con factors, Dr. the lead researcher said, “Our results confirm that this preparation of Arnica is not inferior to ibuprofen when treating osteoarthritis of hands”.

In other to confirm the effect of Arnica as a form of functional food for treatment of osteoarthritis, scientists at the Valens Clinic for Rheumatism conducted a study of topical application of Arnica montana fresh plant gel twice daily, in 26 men and 53 women with mild to moderate osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.

According to the study, treatment after 3 and 6 weeks demonstrated a strong improvement of the median total scores on the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), used by health professionals with proprietary set of standardized questionnaires to evaluate the condition of patients with osteoarthritis, including knee and hip, including pain, stiffness, and physical functioning of the joints.

Furthermore, in regard to the symptoms expression of osteoarthritis, application of the herbal preparation exerted a significant reduction of pain, stiffness, observed by the pain and stiffness score.

Score of mean of function subscales also showed significant reductions at these timepoints.

The physical function subscale found in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) is considered as more consistent with a stronger test-retest reliability in compared to the pain score with some inconsistencies across the studies.

However, local tolerate adverse effects were reported in 7.6 % of patients attended the study with one patient with allergic reaction.

Interestingly, at the end of the study, 87% rated the tolerability of the gel as “good” or “fairly good,” and 76% would use it again.

These results indicated that topical application of Arnica montana gel for 6 weeks alleviated symptoms of osteoarthritis in all aspects and may be considered as a well-tolerated, and effective treatment of mild to moderate OA of the knee.

Taken together, as a topical herbal medicine, Arinca may be considered as a function food for attenuated symptoms and treatment of osteoarthritis.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, best before it’s news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada – Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Choosing between NSAID and arnica for topical treatment of hand osteoarthritis in a randomised, double-blind study by Widrig R1, Suter A, Saller R, Melzer J.(PubMed)
(2) Arnica montana gel in osteoarthritis of the knee: an open, multicenter clinical trial by Knuesel O1, Weber M, Suter A.(PubMed)
(3) The effect of osteoarthritis definition on prevalence and incidence estimates: a systematic review by Pereira D1, Peleteiro B, Araújo J, Branco J, Santos RA, Ramos E.(PubMed)