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Pain Management: 7 Herbs For Chronic Back Pain Relief

Are you plagued with back pain? Are you the Weekend Warrior who wakes up on Monday morning with back pain or tightness?

Would you rather avoid costly and sometimes dangerous prescription drugs?
Back pain can make your life a misery. You can’t concentrate on your job, your personal life is affected and you can’t do any day to day tasks. The back pain will always be at the forefront of your mind.
There are many causes of back pain, the most common of them being obesity, incorrect posture, and lack of exercise.

The use of herbs is a time-honored approach to strengthening the body and treating disease, but always discuss with your physician before treating conditions with herbs and spices to avoid any adverse interactions.

For example, because Turmeric and Ginger possess natural blood-thinning properties, individuals about to undergo surgery and those taking blood thinners should take extra precaution.

SEVEN HERBS FOR BACK PAIN RELIEF:

1.  WILLOW BARK

Willow bark (Salix alba) was used for treating pain by the ancient Greeks more than 2,400 years ago. American Indians throughout North America used it as a pain reliever even before the arrival of the European colonists. Investigation of salicin, a pain-relieving constituent in willow bark, led to the discovery of aspirin in 1899. The most important active constituent is salicin, but other anti-inflammatory constituents also appear in the willow bark.

2.  CLOVE OIL

It is a popular home remedy for a toothache. Apply a drop or two of this excellent anti-inflammatory directly to your aching tooth or tooth cavity.

3.  GINGER

Ginger is used to treat various sorts of pain in the folk medicine of China and India. It is an important pain medication in contemporary Arabic medicine. Ginger contains 12 different aromatic anti-inflammatory compounds, including some with mild aspirin-like effects.

4.  ROSEMARY

Drinking rosemary tea for pain is a remedy used in the contemporary Hispanic folk medicine of Mexico and the Southwest.

Its leaf also contains four anti-inflammatory substances—camosol, oleanolic acid, rosmarinic acid, and ursolic acid.

Carnosol acts on the same anti-inflammatory pathways as both steroids and aspirin;

Rosmarinic acid acts through at least two separate anti-inflammatory biochemical pathways; and

Ursolic acid, which makes up about 4 percent of the plant by weight, has been shown in animal trials to have anti-arthritic effects.

5.  OREGANO

(Origanum vulgare ssp. hirtum), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) are herbs you should be sprinkling liberally onto your food, as they are replete with analgesic, antispasmodic and anti- inflammatory compounds.

(OREGANO ALONE HAS 32 ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES!)

Mix and match these garden herbs into a pain-relieving tea:

Pour a cup of boiling water over a teaspoon of dried herbs, steep 5 to 10 minutes and strain.

6.  PEPPERMINT

The Peppermint compounds menthol and camphor are found in many over-the-counter backache medications. They are chemicals that can help ease the muscle tightness that contributes to many bad backs.

Menthol is a natural constituent of plants in the mint family, particularly peppermint and spearmint, although the aromatic oils of all the other mints contain it as well.

Camphor occurs in spike lavender, hyssop and coriander.

7.  BOSWELLIA contains anti-inflammatory and analgesic boswellic acids.

Boswellia  can soothe pain from sports injuries and also can help osteoarthritic knee pain. Take 150- to 400-mg capsules or tablets (standardized to contain 30 percent to 65 percent boswellic acids) three times daily for two to three months.

Sources Of Article Include:

motherearthnews.com,holisticonline.com,motherearthliving.com