Arnica is beneficial for treating bruises, sprains, muscle soreness, and muscle spasms often associated with sports activity.
Arnica is also used to treat muscular aches, joint pain, and arthritis. It is believed that the arnica plant has anti-inflammatory properties…
Does Arnica speed up healing?
Arnica helps speed up the healing process of bruises and wounds by helping the body to produce white blood cells.
This helps to clean up congested blood and disperses trapped fluids from affected area.
Firstly, let’s take a closer look at what’s wrong with inflammation…
Some people think nightshade plants like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant cause inflammation and should be avoided most of the time.
While others say nightshades are fine, and that eliminating foods high in lectins is the key to reducing inflammation.
The answer for many people, the problem with inflammation is it continues.
Their immune system works much harder and gets stuck on overdrive.
Over a period of time…
Elevated stress starts to take a toll on normal everyday bodily functions.
In fact, it can add to stress levels affecting mood, energy and metabolism.
Longer term can even cause the body to attack itself!
What if inflammation doesn’t stop?
Inflammation puts stress on the immune system which can break down.
And may increase the risk of many other dangerous health conditions.
There is a lot of conflicting information about what foods actually shut down inflammation…
Inflammation starts out as a good thing.
If you stub your toe or get an infection…
Inflammation triggers your body to remove the invaders in their tracks.
Usually, it’ll go away on its own so your body can heal itself.
The problem happens when inflammation does not shut down on its own.
That’s what doctors call “chronic inflammation”…
Chronic inflammation can make the body attack itself.
And it can cause damage to:
Coronary arteries
Nerve cells
And make cells duplicate uncontrollably…
Chronic inflammation is directly linked to heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.
What about pain and inflammation…
Okay, let’s talk about how inflammation relates to sport.
I love mountain trail bike riding…
Best part of living in the mountains is having access to nature.
Located Warburton, Victoria, Upper Yarra Valley ranges is on my doorstep.
There are lots of great hiking, running and mountain bike riding trails.
Yes, we are talking about rocky and steep trails.
I was riding down a very steep rocky trail the other day…
As I’m flying around a sharp bend…
I put my foot down on a rock the wrong way!
And boom come crashing down to a screeching stop.
Let me explain…
The pain was excruciating.
I tried to stand up and quickly found my ankle wasn’t responding!
It was a long walk back home, and given the current controversy about whether to ice injuries, I decided not to ice it, but to take some arnica that I keep around. I went from barely walking and in a lot of pain to walking normally on day three! I was amazed!
The arnica not only helped the swelling and trauma, but it helped the pain immensely—I didn’t even have to resort to Ibuprofen or Tylenol, both of which have serious health and liver implications.
Arnica, on the other hand, is a completely natural homeopathic remedy that is so effective and widespread, that even physicians and surgeons now recommend it to their patients to reduce pain, trauma, swelling, bruising and inflammation. Arnica helps to naturally speed healing to the affected area.
Arnica has been recorded as being used all the way back to the 12th century as a healing agent. It has been used extensively in Europe for literally thousands of years.
The most common type of arnica is Arnica Montana which is part of the daisy family. The daisy family contains several members which are used medicinally, including echinacea, calendula chamomile, yarrow, and dandelion.
Arnica contains a substance called helenalin, which is a potent anti-inflammatory. It can be used for traumatic injuries, surgery, or even just aches, pains, insect bites, and sore muscles. Since Arnica helps to decrease swelling, it also decreases pain associated with swelling. Arnica also stimulates the body’s healing processes and actually speeds up the time it takes injuries to heal.
Arnica is available in a variety of different forms, including topical oils, creams, gels, and ointments; as well as oral capsules and sublingual. Generally, the topical forms work best for superficial injuries and inflammation, and the oral capsules or tablets work for deeper injuries or trauma.
Arnica is excellent for treating the inflammation of osteoarthritis as well as injuries. This study done in 2007 and published in the Rheumatology International shows topical arnica as effective as an NSAID drug like ibuprofen in the treatment of the pain and stiffness of arthritis. Got sore, achy knees? Try arnica. Another study from Switzerland showed arnica’s effectiveness for moderate arthritis in knees, as well. In addition, arnica is effective at treating the pain, inflammation and stiffness from carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrists.
For us athletes, especially aging athletes, arnica oil is a godsend for inflammation, muscle soreness, and exercise-related injuries like sprained ankles. Applying arnica topically after a hard workout or training session can be very effective at reducing inflammation and muscle damage. In this study, participants who used arnica had less pain and muscle tenderness 72 hours after intense exercise, according to the results published in the European Journal of Sport Science.
Arnica is also known to stimulate white blood cells and to help flush out the toxins that accumulate in an injured joint or wound, speeding healing and easing pain. Arnica contains thymol (also found in thyme) which is a vasodilator. In other words, it dilates the blood vessels and even the tiny capillaries, which helps to increase circulation, cleaning out the wound and easing swelling.
Other uses for arnica include treatment for headaches, back pain, mouth and gum pain, and even leg cramps. One odd use for arnica oil is that it actually can stimulate hair growth, so it may be effective to add to your daily hair routine. Regular scalp massages with arnica oil can actually stimulate the hair follicles to grow new, healthy hair.
How to Purchase Arnica…
Arnica is available in oil, tincture, homeopathic ointment, cream, salve and pills or capsules.
Since arnica is considered a homeopathic treatment, the potency is important.
Lower dilutions are shown by smaller number next to the numeral X, C, etc., which means it has a higher concentration. For pills, look for homeopathic pills with 30x dilution. For oral products, potencies usually range from 4X-200C depending on the manufacturer.
Topical Arnica can be much higher, and it is common to find higher potencies such as 1X to 6X.
(1X being the stronger potency.)
Arnica is toxic if it gets inside the body.
It is best to not apply arnica on broken skin or open wound.
Arnica is also not intended to be taken internally.
You could use homeopathic pills or capsules containing small dose of arnica to not cause harm.
Arnica oil can be found at health and supplement stores or online.
Look for arnica oil that has few other added ingredients.
Typically it will need to be diluted with a high-quality base oil such as olive oil, almond or grapeseed oil.
Some people may be sensitive to the compound helenalin found in arnica.
If you develop a mild rash, then you may be helenalin-sensitive and should stop using arnica.
Arnica is one of the best, natural, pain-killing, trauma-soothing, healing substances you can use.
Yes, defintely a good foundation to always have topical arnica in your medicine cabinet.
Arnica is simply amazing!
References:
http://www.arnica.com/category/arnica-uses/
https://draxe.com/arnica-oil/
https://www.drweil.com/vitamins-supplements-herbs/herbs/arnica/
https://www.britishhomeopathic.org/charity/how-we-can-help/articles/homeopathic-medicines/a/arnica-montana/