Ginkgo Biloba May Ease Chronic Pain

Ginkgo biloba extract —long used in traditional Chinese medicine to fight Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration, and age-related memory loss—may help ease neuropathic pain, a new study shows. In tests on rats with neuropathic pain, researchers found that pain responses were significantly lower among animals that had been treated with ginkgo. Results revealed that the higher the dose of ginkgo extract, the greater the pain-relieving benefits.

Common among people with diabetes, shingles, and limb injury, neuropathic pain is typically accompanied by tissue damage. Symptoms of this chronic condition include sharp, burning pain and tingling, especially in response to usually harmless stimuli (such as heat and cold). Past research suggests that capsaicin cream (formulated from a chili-pepper extract) may also help alleviate neuropathic pain.