Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Palmitoylethanolamide, Myrrh, and Oxygen-Ozone Therapy Improve Pharmacological Therapy in Acute Painful Lumbosacral Radiculopathy due to Herniated Disc
Controlled trialHumansWith alpha-lipoic acid and myrrh
This study tested palmitoylethanolamide together with alpha-lipoic acid and myrrh. Its results cannot be assigned to palmitoylethanolamide alone. More combination studies.
- Design
- Controlled trial
- Subjects
- 62 patients with acute sciatica from a herniated disc at one Rome hospital, in four groups of 15 to 16
- Dose used in the study
- Drug therapy alone; drug therapy plus the supplement; drug therapy plus oxygen-ozone injections; or all three. Supplement doses not stated in the abstract
- Duration
- 4 weeks
- What was measured
- Pain (NRS-11), Oswestry Disability Index, SF-12, opioid use at 2 and 4 weeks
What the authors reported
All four groups improved. At 4 weeks, each added treatment beat drug therapy alone on pain and disability (supplement group: NRS p = 0.017, ODI p = 0.004). The combined group did best. Opioid days were the same across groups; the share needing opioids was 60 percent on drugs alone, 40 percent with the supplement, 20 percent with ozone.
Limits of this study
Open label, not randomised, about 15 per group, no long-term follow-up; the authors name the first two. The supplement combined three compounds. Acute sciatica improves in most people within weeks whatever the treatment.
Source
Entry checked against the abstract on PubMed on 2026-09-22. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.