A new study led by an Indian scientist found that a herbal extract of an Indian Frankincense Salai, commonly found in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, can effectively reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.

The study was led by Siba Raychaudhuri, a faculty member of the University of California, Davis, in the United States.

The study, published in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, found patients taking the herbal remedy which consisted in an enriched extract of “Indian Frankincense,” or the herb Boswellia serrata, showed significant improvement in as little as seven days.

 “The high incidence of adverse affects associated with currently available medications has created great interest in the search for an effective and safe alternative treatment,” said Raychaudhuri. “AKBA has anti-inflammatory properties, and we have shown that B. serrata enriched with AKBA can be an effective treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee.”

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis; it commonly affects the hips, feet, spine, and the large weight bearing joints, such as the hips and knees. As OA progresses, the affected joints appear larger, are stiff and painful, and usually feel worse, the more they are used throughout the day. As the bone surfaces become less well protected by cartilage, the patient experiences pain upon weight bearing, including walking and standing.

The 90-day, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 70 patients will be of great interest to sufferers. At the end of the study both doses of 5-Loxin – an enriched extract of B. serrata – conferred clinically and statistically significant improvements in pain scores and physical function scores in the patients.

The herb has been used for thousands of years in the Indian system of traditional medicine, but the research study published in Arthritis Research & Therapy is the first to prove that an enriched extract of the plant can be used as a successful treatment to reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.