Potential Role of Herbal Medicine in Alleviating Pain and Inflammation in Osteoarthritis: a Review

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a rheumatological disorder accompanied with imbalance between anabolic and catabolic mediators that lead to the destruction of homeostasis of articular cartilage. Currently, Steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are commonly used in the management of OA. Besides the various side effects of these drugs, they can just moderately alleviate symptoms of OA. Hence, to achieve safe and efficacious drugs, the research tendency toward exploration of novel sources has been grown up. Various previous researches have focused on the use of medicinal plants in the treatment of OA. This review focuses on the most efficacious medicinal plants and drugs considering related laboratory and clinical evidences. More investigations are needed to develop therapeutic agents with disease-modifying properties to treat OA.