Arnica Gel as Good as Ibuprofen

Greetings folks, the following is an article distributed to

practitioners from Mediherb and Dr Kerry Bone, one of the

Australia’s and possibly the worlds leading professors of

herbal medicine and manufacturers of the finest quality

herbal products. This is supposed to be information for

practitioners only but due to the constant smear campaigns

and misinformation distributed by some medical doctors and

pharmaceutical companies, mainly idiotic American based, I

am going to publish the articles sent to me so that you, the

discerning public, have more accurate and honest information

upon which to base your decision to use herbal therapies.

Mainstream pharmaceutical companies and some doctors

have their heads in the sand when it comes to herbal

medicine and the real threat it poses to their “Illness

Industry”. Much of the so called science behind

pharmaceuticals is questionable as are the side effects whilst

much of the science behind herbal medicine is very sound

indeed. Modern science is even proving more and more that

natural therapies, herbal medicine and energetic medicine is

the way forward. The ones who stand to lose the most profits

would have you believe otherwise!

Enjoy the articles!

Craig Hitchens. B.HSc.(Natural Health Care) NESCP, Dip.

Massage, Dip. Reflexology, TFTCP.

Arnica Gel as Good as Ibuprofen

Because of the well known and dangerous side effects

of oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),

they are increasingly being recommended as topical

treatments in the management of osteoarthritis.

Results from a randomised, double-blind clinical study

comparing this type of treatment with an Arnica (Arnica

montana) gel have been recently announced.1 The

study involved 204 patients with multiple osteoarthritis

(OA) in the fingers (small joint OA) and compared 3

weeks’ treatment with the Arnica gel against a 5%

ibuprofen gel. The topical Arnica treatment was

evaluated by both the patients and their doctors as

more effective than the topical NSAID. Of the patients

who assessed efficacy as “very good” or “good”, more

patients in the Arnica group (64%) expressed

satisfaction than in the ibuprofen group (58.8%).

This was a high quality clinical study. The study was

planned and performed according to strict international

guidelines for studies of multiple osteoarthritis of the

fingers (OARS; Osteoarthritis Research Group

International), EMEA (European Agency for the

Evaluation of Medicinal Products) guidelines for

controlled studies and their statistical evaluation, as

well as according to Good Clinical Practice rules. This is

the very first herbal study looking at this condition to

be performed according to these strict guidelines.

 

 

Comment

Results from this study suggest that the topical antiinflammatory

activity of Arnica is vastly

underestimated. Arnica has been found to inhibit

activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB, which

is responsible for the transcription of genes encoding

the production of various inflammatory mediators

including COX-2.

 

 

2

As well as the traditional uses of

Arnica for bruises, contusions and venous insufficiency,

its topical use as a musculoskeletal anti-inflammatory is

now backed up by sound clinical evidence and needs to

be given greater priority by herbal clinicians.

REFERENCES

1 Widrig R, Suter A, Saller R et al.

 

 

Rheumatol Int

In press

2 Bone K.

 

 

Clinical Guide to Blending Liquid Herbs. Herbal