Nettles take the sting out of arthritis pain

Abstract

Pain and disability scores were significantly lower after 1 week of treatment with stinging versus nonstinging nettles, and there was a non-significant reduction in daily use of analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs with stinging nettle use. Pain relief was most likely to occur if a sting with weak was produced, but 85% of patients said this was an acceptable side-effect and half said they preferred stinging nettles to their usual pain relief medication (J R Soc Med 2000; 93: 305-09).