• Felipe Araya-Quintanilla, Hector Gutierrez-Espinoza, Maria Jesus Munoz-Yanez, Ursula Sanchez-Montoya, and Juan Lopez-Jeldes.
• Rehabilitation and Health Research Center (CIRES), Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, Chile; Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad de las Américas, Santiago, Chile.
• Pain Physician. 2020 Mar 1; 23 (2): E151E161E151-E161.

BackgroundGinger has been proposed as a complementary treatment for musculoskeletal pain. However, efficacy, type, and safety remains unclear.ObjectivesTo determine the effectiveness of consumption or topical application of ginger for pain relief and knee function improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis.Study DesignSystematic review with meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.MethodsAn electronic search was performed on Medline, Central, CINAHL, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, and LILACS databases. The eligibility criteria for selecting studies included clinical trials that compared consumption and/or topical ginger with placebo or other interventions for the pain relief and knee function in patients with medical diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis.ResultsSeven clinical trials met the eligibility criteria, and for the quantitative synthesis, 4 studies were included. For the comparison capsules versus placebo, mean difference for pain was -7.88 mm; 95% confidence interval (CI), 11.92 to 3.85 (P = 0.00), and standard mean difference for knee function was -1.61 points; 95% CI, -4.30 to -1.09 (P = 0.24). For the comparison of topical ginger versus standard treatment, standard mean difference for pain was 0.79 mm; 95% CI, -1.97 to 0.39 (P = 0.19), and standard mean difference for knee function was -0.51 points; 95% CI, -1.15 to 0.13 (P = 0.12).LimitationsThe current evidence is heterogeneous and has a poor methodologic quality.ConclusionsThere is insufficient evidence to support the use of oral ginger compared with placebo in the pain relief and function improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis. For other comparisons, no statistically significant differences were found.Key WordsOsteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis, ginger, pain, randomized clinical trial, systematic review.

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