Topical Olive Oil can reduce pain from 5/10 to 3.75/10 while placebo might drop it to 5/10. I’ve also found mannitol sugar in skin cleanser helps as well.
Rehabil Nurs. 2018 Sep 6.in press.
The Effectiveness of Olive Oil in Controlling Morning Inflammatory Pain of Phalanges and Knees Among Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Clinical
Trial. Hekmatpou D et al
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30192341
- About 12 cases in each group – 12 week trial
- they actually had 5 groups – olive oil, parafin oil, no rx, massage, and piroxicam gel
- It was put on twice daily
Results shown for 3 pertinent groups:
Comment – Extra virgin olive oil has merit as a topical for hand pain. Dr. Helene Bretrand has spearheaded the use of mannitol in a long-acting formulation as a topical aid for pain. I had a patient with hand pains without myofascial component that benefited from mannitol sugar in skin cleanser (I just dumped some in without interest on it all dissolving). Wonder if mannitol in olive oil would work well too…
newpainmuse 