Mentha spicata as natural analgesia for treatment of pain in osteoarthritis patients

Osteoarthritis, as the major cause of chronic musculoskeletal pain, impacts people aged 45 and above. The first line analgesic treatments have reported minimal short term effects. The use of essential oils as pain killer has increased, recently. Mentha spicata, or spearmint essential oil is famous due to its anti-flatulence effects, but one less known biological activity of spearmint is its analgesic activity. The aim of our study was to confirm the analgesic effects of M. spicata essential oil. In this review, we evaluated the articles on analgesic activities of M. spicata essential oil from different relevant databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, and Springer) without limitation up to April 30, 2016. Different animal studies have reported the analgesic effects of M. spicata essential oil and its main abundant compounds such as carvone, limonene and menthol, also, the efficacy and safety of spearmint oil in reducing of pain severity were confirmed in osteoarthritis patients. In spite of the beneficial effects of spearmint oil in reducing of pain, other large clinical trials are required to confirm the efficacy and safety of M. spicata oil.