Arnica Montana
and My Herbal Snobbery

Arnica montana

There is some confusion surrounding Arnica so I would like to help clear a few things up......
The dried or fresh flowers are used in many TOPICAL preparations for sore muscles or bruising and trauma to the body that dose NOT have open wounds. Arnica should never be put on broken skin or taken internally. That being said the HOMEOPATHIC version can be taken internally, you would use it for many of the same reasons as the flowers, especially good after giving birth for you and the baby, also great after a bad fall or accident. I am sure to keep it with me at all times because my little ones have been known to take a few dives now and then.

As a testament to Arnica when my Grandmother was remolding her home she fell from a ladder detaching her alkalis tendon, she refused pain meds and continued taking homeopathic Arnica before and after the surgery to reattach the tendon. She made a full and speedy recovery. Now I don't suggest refusing pain meds but that seemed to work for her.

I would suggest keeping homeopathic Arnica with you at all times especially if you are accident prone or have children. If you are a massage therapist I would try infusing Arnica flowers in your massage oils for those clients who complain of muscle pain or who have just experienced trauma.

A few words on Homeopathic and Herbal...

I have a pet peeve maybe I am a snob but here it goes…People who use the words "Herbal" and "Homeopathic" interchangeably, they are not the same! . The other day I was reading a woman's description of her products and ingredients. She said she uses "rare homeopathic ingredients" in her soaps and scrubs. I was intrigued to know what they were because I thought "hey that's neat!" but none were to be found. She seemed well versed in herbs and claimed to have studied them for many years. But her miss use of the word made me question her credentials. So to all my friends I wish you not to make the same mistake.

Because others are a tad more eloquent in their definition I will quote them…

"Homeopathy, or homeopathic medicine, is a holistic system of treatment that originated in the late eighteenth century. The name homeopathy is derived from two Greek words that mean "like disease." The system is based on the idea that substances that produce symptoms of sickness in healthy people will have a curative effect when given in very dilute quantities to sick people who exhibit those same symptoms. Homeopathic remedies are believed to stimulate the body's own healing processes. Homeopaths use the term "allopathy," or "different than disease," to describe the use of drugs used in conventional medicine to oppose or counteract the symptom being treated.