Herbs for Pain
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We live in a culture that avoids feeling discomfort. We are offered so many ways to avoid uncomfortable feelings. Whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, our culture provides the fix to feelings, encouraging avoiding or masking pain as soon as we begin to experience it.
This fix-it relationship with pain keeps us from listening to what that pain is trying to tell us. Maybe your sciatica is telling you to turn off the TV and walk around the block. Maybe your headache is nudging you to drink more water. If the pains we feel are messengers, are we listening?
Pain responds to tiny measures when caught early. When my daughter was little she spent a few days a week at a daycare while I delivered herbs in Seattle. There were just a hand full of children led by a magical woman in a wooded setting. As will happen with three and four-year-olds, bumps and bruises and trips and falls were inevitable. When a child got hurt, the other children would gather around and place their hands above the “owie” and say together in a long, song-talk way “Looove”. Like a Mother placing a Batman band- aid on a non-open cut, the act of showing love reduced the pain response. Moments later, all was well.
What if after all love is the answer? How does love lighten pain? Love in all its forms (joy, laughter, feeling loved…) all create the same chemistry in the body as popping pain killers. It’s true; the happier you are, the less you will feel your pain.
Adding herbs, bodywork, acupuncture, and yoga are all ways to reduce pain. Remedies for pain would fill up volumes as pain can present from so many aspects of life -physical, mental, spiritual, emotional. For this post I will mention just a few that I have used with success in clinic.
-Erin Vanhee
Blue Vervain
A perennial plant with beautiful pink-purple flowers, vervain has a structure that is rigid, upright, and branched. The person who finds this remedy effective is also rigid and upright. A type-A personality, intense, over achiever with a tendency to neck pain, stiffness will find this plant to be their pain ally. The Blue Vervain person is going to push through and get it done no matter the consequences. Ironically, Vervain is the remedy for muscle hyperextension, much like the personality who hyper-extends in life.
The plant is bitter energetically which is beneficial to the stiffness factor brought on by liver tension and can show up as stiff muscles.
Application is in tincture form, 5-7 drops up to 15-20 as needed.
Herbal Allies for Muscular Skeletal Concerns
#1: Mullein
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is the herbal chiropractor of the herbal apothecary. An easy to grow biennial, Mullein is often found growing in the wild. Mullein’s doctrine of signature is a tall, cylindrical shape of it’s flower stalk, indicating strength of the spinal vertebrae. Mullein’s anti-inflammatory and joint lubricating actions work together to adjust and assist alignment of the bones.
Michigan herbalist Jim McDonald treats the regions of the spine with leaves of the corresponding region of the flowers stalk. Mullein is applied in oil and liniments, poulticing or taken in tea or tincture 3-7 drops up to 30 drops as needed.
#2: Black Cohosh
Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) is the specific remedy for pain in the upper trapezius muscle. Black Cohosh is an effective ally for fibromyalgia and reducing tension/tight fascia. The typical person to benefit from Black Cohosh may have dark brooding tendencies and deep, brooding pain.
The remedy best suited for cerebral spinal fluid is Black Cohosh. Black Cohosh is a remedy for bunching up of the CSF which can manifest with a darkness and brooding that falls on the soul. Or conversely a bunching of fluids can be a result of whiplash, which Black Cohosh is also a remedy.
This shade loving plant is a beauty in the garden. The foliage unfurls in the spring, coming from the dark of winter much like the person who can unfurl into a new life with the assist of this powerful plant ally.
Best tinctured from fresh plant, 3-5 drops, increasing to 20-30 drops as needed. If the tincture produces good results but a mild headache, add Dandelion Root.
#3: Horsetail
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is a perennial herb growing wild throughout the PNW and is high in silicon maximizing the assimilation of calcium in our bodies. When you visit horsetail you see sections in its growth that reminds of the vertebra. The anti-inflammatory action coupled with the bone strengthening of horsetail make it a must have addition to liniments and/or bone healing tea blends.
My clinical experience with horsetail following surgery of the spine has been positive.
Want to learn more about Plant based remedies for pain? See our class listings or schedule a consultation for specific remedies for your situation.