Pycnogenol, derived from maritime pine bark, has potent flavonoids called proanthocyanidins (PCOs). Pycnogenol has significant antioxidant benefits that may contribute to heart health and boost immunity. Now research reports that pycnogenol can help relieve muscle cramps and pain.
The two-part study, published in Angiology, examined the preventive action of pycnogenol on cramps and muscular pain in different groups of participants. In the first part of the study, researchers at G. D'Annunzio University in Chieti, Italy administered 50 mg pycnogenol four times per day and about 1 1/2 quarts of water daily to 66 participants with muscle cramps and pain, for five weeks. The participants were in three different groups including healthy participants, subjects with poor circulation, and athletes. In the second part of the study, researchers administered 200 mg of pycnogenol daily or a placebo to 47 patients with intermittent claudication and diabetic microangiopathy and suffering from muscular cramps and pain, for one week.
The researchers found that most of the participants in the first part of the study had a 75 percent reduction in muscle cramping and pain by the fourth week. In the second part of the study, findings revealed there was a 20 percent decrease in muscle cramping and pain in the pycnogenol group, as compared to the placebo group.
"Globally, these results suggest that the use of Pycnogenol prevents cramps, muscular pain at rest, and pain after/during exercise in normals, in athletes prone to cramps, in patients with venous disease, in claudicants, and in diabetics with microangiopathy," the study authors write. "This indicates that Pycnogenol is effective in reducing pain and cramps during retraining and rehabilitation increasing its efficiency."
REFERENCES:
1. Vinciguerra G, Belcaro G, Cesarone MR, Rohdewald P, et al. Cramps and muscular pain: prevention with pycnogenol in normal subjects, venous patients, athletes, claudicants and in diabetic microangiopathy. Angiology 2006 May-Jun;57(3):331-9.
Posted by Elaine Gavalas on October 2, 2006 10:00 AM
