Are you in pain today? I am.
Pain is caused by inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injuries or infections. The inflamed tissue swells up in an effort to heal itself and as a result, presses on the nerves in that area. Pressure on the nerves causes pain.
There are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic. Acute inflammation occurs on a short-term basis, such as after you sprain your ankle or a cut gets infected. This causes pain (inflammation) that can last up to 2-3 weeks. However, your body eventually heals and the inflammation dissipates.
Chronic inflammation happens when your body does not heal from the injury or infection completely. It may not hurt quite as bad. However, it continues to ache or throb daily. These sensations can last weeks or even years.
I’ve been experiencing chronic inflammation for about two months now. I’m pretty sure I hurt my back while lifting something very heavy at the farm back in early October and I’m still working on figuring out why the pain hasn’t receded yet. It’s a hundred times worse in the morning and eases naturally over the course of the day.
Note: This article is chock full of links to all kinds of resources about pain, plants, and how to understand your body.
Resolving pain is not entirely about herbs. If you’re looking for a quick fix or to just learn the names of a few herbs that might help you without understanding anything about why you might be in pain, scroll down. You can continue doing your own guesswork and trying to figure things out through trial and error rather than learning the how or why if that’s what you wish.
I write these posts to help you understand WHY things happen in your body. This article is full of links for you to learn more and understand what’s happening in YOUR body.
Since this is my blog, I’d like to share what’s going on with MY back pain, what has worked for me, what I think may be exacerbating it, and the foods and herbs that help me. Because it’s very possible that these things may also apply to you.
Do not rely on taking Tylenol or Ibuprofen every day to manage your pain. Once in awhile if the pain is unbearable, you can resort to these, but if you take either of these on a regular basis they will wreak havoc inside your gut and can eventually cause you to develop an ulcer or any number of other problems related to damaging your digestive tract.
I figured out two months ago that I have iron deficiency anemia and I have been taking an Iron Supplement every day to fix that problem. It’s helping resolve my PLMD symptoms but I am beginning to wonder if the extra iron is contributing to my increased levels of inflammation.
Understanding WHY you hurt where you hurt is critical. Most people with back pain don’t realize that it’s not their back causing the pain. It’s their glutes, ham strings, psoas, and other muscles pulling on the muscles of the back. Back pain can also be caused by a herniated disc, which needs to be diagnosed by a doctor. But don’t jump to a spinal injury as the cause unless you have reason to believe that may be the case.
I also recently saw a ROLFING specialist who helped ease my pain greatly and told me that the muscles attached to my tailbone were frozen, causing my hips to be held in an offset position. Carrying my weight like this every day results in pain and stiffness over time. I have tight PSOAS muscles on both sides and my hip flexors are also tight and weak. My ham strings are also tight from sitting far too often (working at my desk) instead of exercising and moving around in various positions. This is causing me to feel an immense amount of pain in my lower back region.
My diet is about as anti-inflammatory as you can get. I can’t eat wheat, cane sugar, soy, or dairy. I get creative with sweeteners but a large majority of my daily diet is simply whole foods. If I eat chips, they generally have 4 ingredients or fewer. I make cookies for myself because it’s so hard to find any made without cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup (both ingredients that would exacerbate inflammation even if I wasn’t allergic.)
The solution for me, I guarantee, has mostly to do with the need for me to move and stretch my body more. Humans were not designed to sit all day and our bodies were built for climbing, squatting, and carrying things while also walking long distances. I need to move my body more. Yoga will help. Stretching those muscles I just told you about will help.
But what also helps me, on the days I simply HAVE to work and not move around like I want to, is some herbal support. The herb I turn to most frequently for my own pain relief is Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
This is some of what’s left of my turmeric harvest from this year. I ate all the big chunks already so I apologize if this is harder to tell, but it’s definitely turmeric root. The important thing you need to remember is that while turmeric can reduce inflammation in most people, it doesn’t work for everybody. Also, turmeric must be combined with black pepper in order for it to be absorbed properly in your body. Without the addition of piperine, the curcuminoids in the turmeric won’t do nearly as much good on your pain. THIS is my favorite supplement. I also like making my own Golden Milk with some turmeric, black pepper, ginger root, cloves, and cardamom.
Another herb that can ease your muscle pains is Goldenrod.
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is an inflammation modulating herb, which means that it can help reduce the inflammation your body is feeling when taken daily over time. The best way to experience goldenrod’s pain relieving powers is as an herbal infused oil. I also love working with goldenrod as a tea or tincture to help reduce my allergic load in the spring time.
Another herb that works great as an infused oil applied topically is Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum anuum).
Cayenne can be made into an infused oil and when you apply it not only does it help relieve your pain, it also warms the area up and increases circulation. This can be especially helpful for rheumatism or pain a person feels from feeling too cold when they have damaged nerves.
My two favorite pain relieving plants are Black Birch (Betula lenta) and Wild Lettuce. The only thing you need to understand about these is that while they are FANTASTIC at reducing the pain you are feeling (the effect lasts several hours) they are not going to stop the CAUSE of your pain. (Note: I sell both of these remedies in my Online Shop.)
Black Birch contains methyl-salicylates which act in the body very similarly to aspirin. They’re like a minty version of the same compound that’s found in Willow bark. I just prefer the flavor of birch over willow and it’s much easier to identify for me.
Another plant that contains this compound is Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), though it’s much harder to find and forage a large enough amount of this small evergreen groundcover plant than it is to harvest black birch bark.
Wild lettuce (Lactuca spp.) is the kind of pain reliever that I will take if I’ve been out hiking or working in the garden all day and I twisted or hurt my back somehow, fell in a hole and hurt my leg, or if I ever broke a bone. Wild lettuce is the strongest painkiller you can find and forage in nature. It is not as strong as opium, but it sure is the best when it comes to dealing with a major injury naturally.
This is when I found a 10-foot tall wild lettuce (Lactuca canadensis) last summer
Getting up and moving around as often as you can, paying attention to the flow of lymph through your body (because stagnant lymph can cause pain too), and maintaining a low-inflammation diet are your keys to reducing your chronic pain. But knowing WHERE and WHY you hurt helps most of all!
If you are unfamiliar with the best way to make your own herbal tinctures or powerful infused herbal oils, my class Remedies From Nature can really help you. I spent years doing it wrong based on googling this and that before I finally figured out the best methodology. Spare yourself years of trial and error and just get the answers now! >> Get Remedies From Nature
Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means I make like 20 cents when you buy the product with my link at no cost to you. I keep my blog ad-free so I can help you without driving you nuts. If you enjoyed this article and want more, consider pre-ordering my upcoming book Think Like an Herbalist or dropping a tip in my Tip Jar.