agk’s Library of Herbal First Aide
Bruises occur when large numbers of capillaries under the surface of the skin are broken but the skin is not, so the blood pools under the skin. What we see is a contusion or ‘black and blue’ mark. Actually, we should be very careful in our use of terms here. Only some bruises turn ‘black and blue.’ Most are red and blue, showing that there is inflammation and spillage of blood. Black and blue only occurs when there is a de-oxygenated tendency in the blood – found most often in older people and severe bruising.
When a larger arteriole is broken we usually get a large pooling of blood under the skin so that a blood blister is formed.
Minor bruises usually heal quickly in the young and middle aged, but can remain long in the elderly. If the bruise is deeper we may not see the injury but there will be stiffness and pain in the muscles and sometimes sharp pain from pressure on nerves. Coagulated blood in the internal spaces does not show up on x-ray or other medical imaging. We often have to guess that it is there from the pain, the complexion (blue in the tongue, in areas where veins come to the surface), and past history.
Strains and sprains are related to bruises because the stretching of muscles causes breakage of capillaries and leakage of blood into the adjoining tissues. Treatment is the same except that we may also have to attend to damaged muscles, tendons and connective tissue.
There is an old, widespread American Indian maxim to the effect that one should always treat a bruise because a bruise will change to bad blood, and bad blood can change into cancer. I was once teaching a class of about twenty, one of whom was a Native American raised in a traditional household. She exclaimed, “oh yes, we were always taught that, but isn’t everybody?” The rest of the class looked at her blankly.
The same doctrine is found in Chinese herbalism and even in homeopathy. In Chinese medicine a bruise or tendency to bruising is called ‘stagnant blood’ or ‘congealed blood,’ and it is always considered wise to treat bruises because ‘stagnant blood’ can turn to cancer. The same doctrine is found in homeopathy. It was introduced by Dr. James Compton Burnett, who noticed that bruises were sometimes followed by cancer. He recommended Bellis perennis (daisy) as a treatment to prevent bruises turning to cancer. Other important bruise remedies used in homeopathy for cancer are Ruta and Conium. These folk-medical theories are in accordance with modern knowledge, for it is indeed found that cancerous tumors thrive best where there is limited oxygen in the bloodstream.
This is one of the few alpine plants used in Western herbal medicine. Shepherds pasturing their sheep in the mountains in the summer noticed that when their animals fell and bruised themselves, or strained a muscle jumping from stone to stone, they nibbled on the fresh leaves or flowers of the arnica plant. They collected these plants for extra income and eventually arnica became a famous remedy for bruises of every kind. The old time doctors classified it as a counterirritant, i.e., it caused heat in the tissues to keep the blood from congealing and the joint from stiffening up. Indeed, it is at its best immediately after an injury and the longer one waits to give arnica, the less dramatically will it work.
At a later date arnica was incorporated into the homeopathic materia medica. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, gave it a “proving” and it became famous in both homeopathy and herbal medicine. Arnica is somewhat toxic and should not be taken internally. It is best given externally, but some people are even sensitive to this method of treatment and it can cause a skin rash. It should not be used longer than two weeks.
Arnica is indicated as a specific in recent bruises, strains and sprains, where the color of the contusion is red and blue (indicating recent injury with inflammation and internal bleeding), and where there is no broken skin. Placed on a laceration it can cause irritation, excessive bleeding and excessive bruising around the lips of the cut. Here one should use its cousin yarrow instead, since this plant is suited to open wounds as well as cuts.
Yarrow is specifically indicated in bruises where the tissues are red and blue, showing that there is active inflammation with congealed blood and the bruise is recent. By stimulating the venous side of the circulation it pulls in the spilled blood and reduces heat and congestion in the capillaries. It is for this reason that Achillea has a paradoxical action. It is a stimulant increasing blood flow to the part but is used where there are there the classic symptoms of heat and irritation: red, swollen, hot, congested tissues, an elongated, red tongue and a rapid pulse. Sometimes there is a blue undertone to the tongue, indicating stagnant venous circulation.
Yarrow is similar to its cousin Arnica, but had different indications. It is indicated in more violent bruises, from sharper instruments, with cuts and lacerations accompanying the injury, while arnica is indicated where the instrument was more blunt and the bleeding is confined to the capillaries and internal spaces. Yarrow is therefore indicated when there is a blood blister because it has a greater affinity to blood spillage, even inside the body.
One time I slammed the door on my pointer finger and got an inch long blood blister along the side. I put yarrow on it and it went away in twenty four hours. The next year I slammed the same finger in the same door. I thought to myself, “Who cares. That’ll go away in a day.” This time it stayed for two weeks and turned into a boil. The bad blood deteriorated instead of being flushed out of the area, as the yarrow treatment had done a year earlier. I treated the boil with homeopathic Hepar sulphuris 30x and it went away, but I learned a lesson.
This is the third in a row of remedies that are closely related by indications and effect, as well as botany. Safflower is indicated by the red and blue coloration of the skin around the bruise but there is more of a septic, deteriorating quality to the injury than in the former two cases and there a darker hue. It is indicated in bruises when there is poor peripheral circulation and recuperative capacity. In fact, it is indicated in a disease of diminished peripheral circulation – Raynaud’s syndrome. This is where there is numbness and whiteness of the fingers in cold weather. I learned the use of safflower in this complaint by building on my knowledge of its use in bruises.
I was visited at my old farm on Sunnyfield road one day by a woman whose hand was injured in an industrial accident. She almost lost it and there was nerve damage and some lack of movement. She had Raynaud’s much worse in that hand, which also had a red and blue hue indicating that there was still some stagnant blood there years after the accident. I figured there was old stagnant blood in the hand keeping it from full health and operation but I didn’t expect it to cure the Raynaud’s. I had her spread safflower oil over the hand and the improvement was prompt and amazing. She called my later to apologize for her critical demeanor. Her partner brought her in against her will; now she was impressed and happy about the results. The mobility of the hand, its warmth and sensation and the Raynaud’s were all dramatically improved.
This is a beautiful plant and a great healer. It more especially belongs under the muscular and skeletal system, where it will be more fully described, because it is a great remedy for stretched, weak or tight tendons. However, it is also a remedy for black-and-blue marks, especially when these occur in combination with tendon injuries.
Solomon’s seal was not used in Western herbalism because the Greeks thought it was poisonous (only the seeds are toxic). In 1597 Gerard reported that the “vulgar people in Hampshire” used it for their cows and themselves, for broken bones, stretched tendons, and contusions. Subsequently it was in English herbalism to some extent. The American Indians used it, though it did not become an important remedy, and finally, today it has re-entered into herbal usage, largely on my recommendations.
There are many, many stories I could tell about Solomon’s seal. One student had torn her achilles tendon walking on a slopped parking lot. In addition, a blood vessel ruptured to cause a huge blue/black bruise at the bottom of the gastrocnemius muscle. The color looked like Solomon’s seal berry. She used this plant, the bruise went away quickly and the injury healed without complication and permanently. Another student tore her achilles tendon walking in her yard, which was also sloped. True Solomon’s seal cured quickly and effectively. These students pointed out that Solomon’s seal likes to grow on slopes. I had not noticed that before. How true!
This remedy will be discussed more fully under the section on the muscular and skeletal system.
Elder flower or berry is indicated in bruises where there is swelling and edema from water as well as a blue color. This particularly happens around the wrists and ankles, so elder is especially effective in the strains and sprains of these parts.
European and Chinese angelica are both used for removing stagnant blood or bruises. The specific color to look for is a yellow/green/blue and sometimes gray. If we see this around the wrists it is a constitutional indication. It is indicated in thin, undernourished or thick, stout persons with this color. Also in local bruises of that coloration.
Sometimes an old bruise will turn from red/blue to yellow/green/blue. This indicates a considerable amount of stagnation tending towards danger – i.e., the development of cancer. Angelica is used in Chinese herbalism for bruises and cancer prevention and treatment, especially in the sexual areas. Angelica is a cousin of poison hemlock (see below), which has similar affinities.
As the blood gets more stagnant and sluggish, usually in association with aging or bad circulation, the bruises get darker. Sassafras is an old American Indian bruise remedy. It is specific for bruises where the color is blue/black. There may also be a sooty look around the eyes.
This remedy can kill a person ‘graveyard dead,’ so we don’t use it in herbalism. In the old days it was used externally, as a poultice, but it is better to avoid it all together and use the diluted, safe homeopathic preparation. Conium is indicated in old people, who get pure black bruises because their blood is moving so slowly. It is also indicated in bruises to the soft tissues, especially the sexual glands – breasts and testicles – to prevent (and even to cure) cancer.
------------------------------------------- from Matthew Wood: THE EARTHWISE HERBAL © 2008–2009 North Atlantic Books (two vols) -------------------------------------------