Pain is shitty. We’ve all been there. Something happens and we reach for the Tylenol bottle, pop a couple and hope it helps. I’m not going to go too deep into the physical mechanism of pain in the body, but I will say this. Pain is not inherently bad. It’s how our body communicates to us that there could be something dangerous happening to us. It’s a neurological signal, a warning that’s sent if there’s something wrong. Our nervous system is saying to us, “Stop! Pay attention!” Where it starts to get tricky is when that pain becomes longterm and chronic.
A few years ago I was practicing aerial silks. It was like dancing, flying and climbing all it one, and I was so stoked on it! Long story short, I fell out of my silks and seriously fucked my neck. I experienced pain nearly everyday because of my accident (until recently when I started working with an acupuncturist). Pain can really interfere in daily life, as you know if you experience pain too. It can mess with work, with your relationships and with your mood too. It’s no joke.
In my client work I’ve meet many people who are looking for an alternative form of pain relief, so, I wanted to share with you what I share with them. There is no one strategy that’s best for pain, it depends on the individual, but here are a few things to keep in mind that I’ve found helpful to know.
Pain, like all things herbal, needs to be addressed as part of a whole person picture. In my opinion it is 100 percent legitimate to address pain in an allopathic way in the short term. If you’re in enough pain where it’s hard to concentrate or do your daily activities, take the damn pain killer. And, at the same time, look at the whole picture. Especially the emotional picture. Pain can cause brain fog, anger, anxiety and depression. Be kind to yourself if you’re hurting. It’s ok to take a nap or cancel plans so you can tend to yourself.
Remember, that there are steps that make up someone’s pain experience. This is called the Pain Complex. It goes like this: You experience injury or inflammation which leads to physical pain that causes tension or spasm surrounding the pain. There is then both an emotional response and a stress response in the body. This can even lead to insomnia and depression if long-term pain. These steps are not linear and your pain picture can move back and forth in these steps. For me knowing, and understanding these steps helped me to feel less bad about my pain. Of course I feel like a bitch today, I didn’t sleep well and am grumpy from both lack of sleep and the stress my body is experiencing. While this understanding doesn’t make the pain go away, it can feel comforting, knowing that the emotional side of pain is just as legitimate as the physical.
Conventional over-the-counter drugs and prescriptions can kill the pain in the body quicker and more effectively than herbs, but they also can cause harm in the body, specifically in the GI tract and have the potential to be addictive. Below is a chart (courtesy of Mary Barnes, CSCH class notes) that shows herbal actions and the pain conditions they can be helpful for. I try to avoid a this-for-that approach to herbalism so I’m not going to tell you which herbs are “good for” pain: you’re smarter than that. I will tell you that nervine, anodyne, circulatory stimulants and anti-inflammatory herbs have been most supportive for my pain picture.
Here is my favorite topical pain salve:
I want to stress that this is a topical formula. Feel free to reach out if you have questions about an internal formula.
3oz olive oil
1oz castor oil
1oz bees wax
1 g Lobelia
2g Arnica
3 g Meadowsweet
4 g St. John’s Wort
Heat in a crock pot (or double boiler) on low for four hours. (Do not let the oil boil or get hot enough to cook the plant material.) After four hours, strain your infused oil. Add bees wax a little bit at a time until melted into oil. To test the consistency of your salve put a small bit of your mixture on a plate in the freezer for about five minutes. It should harden pretty quickly. The more beeswax you add, the firmer the salve will be.
Store in small tins or 4oz mason jar in a cool, dark place.
As always, feel free to reach out with questions, I’d love to have a conversation with you about pain herbs!