Thursday, February 9, 2012

Tripping downstairs and Arnica gel

This past Tuesday evening, I had the fun and memorable experience of missing the last step on our back porch. I made my ankle do an L and found myself lying in the driveway crying. After a few minutes, I was able to get up and finish bringing in the bags of groceries into the house. After I put them away, I hobbled into the bathroom to observe the damage. My ankle was swelling up to the size of a naval orange. I immediately reached for the Arnica gel, slathered it on and wrapped it in an ace bandage.
The Arnica is the reason I'm writing this. Arnica cream or gel has been a mainstay in my life since I was a child. I can remember my mother pulling out a tube of Arnica and rubbing it daily on any play injuries I had. I have since done the same with my son. There was one day he was playing a game of flopping onto his toddler bed, when he missed the pillow and hit the headboard. His eyebrow was huge and black, yet with the daily treatments of my good ole Arnica, the bruise was gone within a week. I took it orally after I had my daughter and am now in need of a new tube. It's one of those things that I use that people give me looks when I tell them about it. Almost as though I was talking about eating ground up moon rocks. If ground up moon rocks helped heal bruises, I would try it.
The funny bit about Arnica is that if it is ingested in large amounts, it is toxic. There have been studies on the effects of Arnica on osteoarthritis and on bruising. They have resulted with it being favorable enough to continue use.
I personally will never give it up.

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