You sprain your ankle and suddenly it’s twice its normal size—or you bruise your knee and the next day your leg looks like a python that swallowed a rabbit. Even a splinter in your thumb can cause it to double its girth. What’s causing all this swelling?
It’s just the body taking care of business. Whenever you get injured, the body responds by flooding the bloodstream with specialized cells and chemicals whose job it is to remove debris, attack germs, and generally try to patch things up. In the process, however, large amounts of fluids travel to the site of the injury. This is what causes swelling and inflammation, both of which can irritate nearby nerves. And that causes pain.
Because inflammation isn’t responsible for healing, but is only a side effect of the process, you can take steps to limit it without interfering with your body’s ability to heal. This is something Native Americans learned very quickly because, given the rigors of their lifestyles, they were in frequent danger of injury.
When inflammation was severe, they would sometimes puncture the swollen area, which allowed blood and fluids to drain out. A less dramatic remedy, and one that was often just as effective, was to put a poultice on the area—or they would drink teas that helped stop inflammation internally. Here are two remedies you may want to try.
Draw out the fluids. The principle of using a poultice is that certain herbs have the ability to draw fluids to the surface, allowing them to drain. In addition, some poultices release helpful compounds into the bloodstream. For sprains and bruises, Native Americans applied crushed leaves of witch hazel. Witch hazel contains anti-inflammatory compounds that can help reduce swelling. (You can buy bottled witch hazel in supermarkets and pharmacies.) Other anti-inflammatory poultices contained crushed pine bark, purslane, plantain, corn, yarrow, and tobacco.
Stop inflammation from the inside. For some kinds of swelling, especially swelling caused by arthritis, Native Americans often used anti-inflammatory teas made with ginger, willow, or dandelion. As with poultices, these herbal teas are loaded with anti-inflammatory compounds, says herbalist James A. Duke, Ph.D.
This Natural Remedies For Inflammation article is taken from :
Healing Secrets of the Native Americans - Porter Shimer
