An Evidence-Based Practice Project on the Use of Ginger to Manage Primary Dysmenorrhea

Abstract

Dysmenorrhea is a highly prevalent gynecological symptom that is widely unreported and normalized. When a woman experiences severe menstrual pain without the presence of a pelvic disorder, the pain is categorized as primary dysmenorrhea. Ginger has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, which when utilized for primary dysmenorrhea, shows promise in reducing pain. A literature search was conducted using several databases and hand searching to find articles that supported the following question: In adult women with primary dysmenorrhea, how does the use of ginger, compared to not using ginger, affect pain? The databases Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Cochrane Library (Cochrane Reviews), Nursing and Allied Health (ProQuest), and PubMed were included. Of the 153 articles identified, the following six articles were used for this project: two systematic reviews with meta-analyses, three randomized controlled trials, and one consensus statement. Each piece of evidence utilized the Visual Analog Scale to measure pain intensity, and all the mean pain scores were found to be significantly lower in women who used ginger supplementation. Ginger was used in different doses and for different durations in each of the pieces of evidence, however there was a significant positive relationship between ginger supplementation and reduction of pain in each article. This project identified that there is strong and compelling evidence to recommend using ginger supplementation to reduce pain.