Q. My 86-year-old mother began to suffer with restless leg syndrome in her 40s; the severity has increased through the years. Recently, she realized that the symptoms had decreased markedly.
She tried to isolate the source of her relief and finally hit on crystallized ginger. She began eating a lot of in recent months to minimize her chocolate intake.
A. We could find no scientific studies demonstrating that ginger can relieve restless leg syndrome. Ginger does have anti-inflammatory properties and has traditionally been used for motion sickness, digestive upset and for cold symptoms.
Your mother’s remedy is a low-cost, low-risk approach for a condition that is hard to treat. Readers interested in other remedies will find them in our Guide to Leg Pain.
