My own stories and what I have learned about back, knee and sciatic pain. For the full teaching, start with the Pain and Arthritis information sheets.
A backache can be caused by any one of several issues. The first to look at is a structural or spinal issue. Has there been a recent injury, a fall or a sharp twisting of the spine, or overuse of the back, lifting a heavy object incorrectly, that has caused the back to rebel? An arthritic condition in the spine can seriously limit the freedom of movement, causing the back to ache, and when the affected joints become inflamed it can cause severe pain.
Kidney issues, stones or infection, should be ruled in or out when working to clear a backache. The kidneys sit toward the back on each side of the body. Kidney stones travel through the kidney, causing the pain to move from the back to the front as they wind their way through. An infected or inflamed kidney will be enlarged, creating pressure and muscle spasms around the organ and causing the back to ache. For women, menstrual cramps are another cause of a backache.
Is It My Back, My Kidneys or Cramps?
The first issue to address when working to clear a backache is why the back is affected. Being female, menstrual cramps were an issue for me. I had also cracked my spine in a car accident in the 1980s, and I had serious kidney issues since childhood. When my back would act up, I had to determine why. Over the years I found a fail-proof way, for me, to tell which of these was causing the discomfort.
Cramps. If menstrual cramps were possible, I used Lobelia, cramp bark, or the stronger combination for spasms that Dr. Christopher called the Antispasmodic. If the cause was cramps, it would take about 15 minutes for the uterus to relax and the spasms to stop.
Kidneys. When cramps were not an option, I would start with my three kidney support drinks: (1) 1 oz of Echinacea in 12 ounces of water; (2) hot lemonade (1 tsp cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and maple syrup to taste, in 16 ounces of water); (3) 1 tablespoon of Herbal Aid 1 in 16 ounces of hot water. It would normally take about 45 minutes for the teas to filter through the kidneys enough to calm the spasms. That would also tell me my kidneys had become inflamed and it was time to do the Infection Program.
The spine. If neither of those calmed it, I knew it was the structural issue in my back.
When my kidneys are inflamed, the muscles over them become spastic, making it hard to take a step without pain. I would have to hold onto furniture as I moved around the house. See the Kidney Disease sheet for more.
When It Is the Spine
My Story: Years of Back Spasms
Following a car accident in 1985, I endured years of debilitating back spasms. Out of the blue my back would go into a spasm, sending me to the floor in a world of hurt. All of this came to a blessed end when I discovered the BF&C (Bone, Flesh & Cartilage) formula in the late 1990s. Three months after I began using the body-repairing herbs in the BF&C formula, the devastating back spasms ended.
When my back acts up from the old injury, I have found a hot and cold shower will calm or end the spasm. After my shower I apply the M&L Salve, followed by a BF&C pack over the lower back where the injury occurred. I also take the BF&C extract, 1 teaspoon in hot water every three hours, for a week or so until the crisis is over, then go back to my normal dose of once or twice a day.
When an arthritic condition of the back becomes inflamed (hot and painful is the way I’ve heard it described), packing the area with an herbal support that dissolves the uric acid crystals causing the inflammation can be very helpful. Dr. Christopher’s A&R Salve packed over the inflamed joint has proved an effective support to stop the discomfort and cool the inflammation. Once the area is comfortable again, switch back to the BF&C Salve, which has the nutrients to repair the damaged joint. The same formula as the A&R Salve is also made as a liquid extract, Joint Support, for additional support.
Michael and the Rain-Soaked Lumber
My husband, who is 6’4”, fairly thin with a long back, had an up-close and personal opportunity to witness the power of the M&L Salve. While moving a pile of rain-soaked lumber to a sheltered area, he sprained his lower back. When will the over-forty masculine half of society realize they are no longer nineteen? Yes, I’ll get off that subject; you all pay dearly for your misconceptions.
His lower back grabbed as he went to straighten up with a load of lumber. When he found me in my office, he said he felt something rip in his back. We immediately massaged the M&L Salve into the affected muscles, and a BF&C Salve pack went on a few minutes later. Throughout the day he kept applying the M&L Salve. Later that day he took an Epsom salt soak, three cups of salt in a tub of hot water, which he felt was extremely beneficial, and went to bed shortly after his bath. Saturday he rested and kept applying the M&L and BF&C salves. Sunday morning he woke up feeling 90% better and was able to finish the job he had abandoned on Friday.
Knowing what to do when an emergency occurs can cut the recovery time down from weeks to days. Since the spastic muscle was not allowed to stay in spasm, there was no swelling or blockage to contend with, and the recovery shortened to only a few days.
BF&C: A Gift from the Father
Since my own back healed, I’ve been privileged to share in many healings brought about by the BF&C formula. Several years ago one of our members asked us to make the BF&C into a salve. It took some doing, but we mastered salve making, and since combining the BF&C Salve with the extract we are never short of dramatic healing stories.
A sprained ankle, swollen and sore, mended overnight. The BF&C Salve was applied right after the accident, supporting the soft tissue immediately.
An arthritic spine. A woman in her 80s, in bed and in pain, had a BF&C pack put over her spine at bedtime by her son. The next morning she bounced out of bed feeling “right as rain.” (Her story is on the Arthritis sheet.)
Scales cleared from a teen’s face. A young teenage girl with a scaly growth on her face was given the BF&C Salve and tincture by her loving uncle. Her condition cleared quickly.
Old injuries. These herbs correctly knit the body back together. Old injuries are cleared of adhesions and the mineral deposits that contribute to arthritic conditions.
My Knee
My Story: A “Fire Ball” in My Knee
What you might call a “fire ball” of pain had developed in my knee. None of the regular herbal remedies were bringing any level of relief. Searching in Dr. Christopher’s writings, I found a reference to the use of nervine herbs for nerve pain. I applied the General Nervine Tonic directly from the bottle to the painful area on my knee. It was as if I’d taken a fire hose to the pain. It just wiped it out. The relief lasted about three hours; when it began to wear off I applied more, and it continued to work. We quickly made a salve from the formula, now our G-Nervine Salve.
Once the pain and inflammation were under control, I began building up my injured knee with the BF&C Salve and extract. It takes time, but I could see positive progress every day.
Hydrotherapy is also important to healing an injured knee. Anytime you have injury or illness you have blockage, and hydrotherapy is all about clearing blockage. The hot water brings fresh blood to the injured area, and the cold slams all that fresh blood through the blockage. It is like shooting a blood bullet into the area: the hot water loads it and the cold fires it. The more dramatic the change between hot and cold, the deeper the blood with all its healing nutrients will penetrate.
M&L Salve: releases a locked-up knee and helps remove excess lymph fluid from the area.
G-Nervine Salve: for the fiery, throbbing pain of an overused or injured knee; no numbing, just an end to the throbbing, and a good night’s sleep.
BF&C Salve and extract: with consistent use, supports the body to restore and repair bone, flesh and cartilage.
Sciatica: Thirty Minutes to Relief
A Member’s Story: Sciatica in Both Legs
I had the opportunity to assist a woman dealing with sciatica in both legs. She had only had the discomfort for about a week when she began the herbal supports. To make a long story short, she cleared the worst of it overnight.
The sciatic nerve runs right behind the bowel, so an important part of clearing this issue is cleaning out the bowel. Our member had been using LBF #1 regularly, but while doing an intense program she had not increased her dose when her bowels tightened up, and she had become backed up. When the pain is this bad you don’t want to wait several days for the bowel to clear; we cleared it quickly that day.
Then we did Dr. Christopher’s foot soak. I added 3 cups of apple cider vinegar to about half a gallon of hot water. She soaked both feet for the first ten minutes while the chopped garlic was prepared; even before her foot went on the garlic she said she was more comfortable sitting in the chair. We added hot water several times, along with more vinegar, until we had used the whole 32-ounce bottle, and she drank two tablespoons of the vinegar in a large glass of water. She rested her right foot on the garlic for about 15 minutes of the half-hour soak.
At the end she said the pain and tightness were nearly gone. The next morning she told me she had slept through the night without pain. She did another soak the next day when some of the tightness tried to return.
For the full sciatica program, see the Arthritis sheet.
Watch
Back Pain Class. Structural issues, the kidneys and menstrual cramps: how to tell them apart and the herbal supports for each.
Stiff, Swollen and Painful Joints, Rheumatism, Fibromyalgia, Gout and Sciatica
Understanding the Condition
A Healthy Joint
Where two bones meet, the ends are capped with smooth, slippery cartilage. The joint is wrapped in a capsule whose lining makes a thick, clear fluid, the joint’s own oil, which keeps the cartilage gliding and feeds it. Cartilage has no blood vessels of its own. It is fed the way a sponge drinks: every time the joint moves and then rests, fluid is pressed out of the cartilage and drawn back in, carrying fresh nutrients in and waste out. Muscles, tendons and ligaments hold the joint steady, and the blood flowing through them brings what the whole area needs.
So a joint lives by circulation and by movement. When the blood is clean and flowing and the joint is used, it stays smooth and free.
A healthy joint and an arthritic joint. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.
How the Trouble Develops
Dr. Christopher taught that there are over forty kinds of arthritis, and that “they all stem back to a toxic condition of the body.” When the bowel is backed up, the liver is overloaded and the kidneys cannot keep up, acids and waste build up in the blood. Waste that cannot get out settles where the circulation is slowest, and the joints, with no blood vessels in the cartilage, are among the first places it lands. Over time it hardens. As the old sheets put it, arthritis is caused by acids and waste matter in the body, which eventually become solidified and lock the joint.
First, stiffness. Waste and acid in the joint fluid make it thick and sluggish. The joint is stiff in the morning and loosens as it moves.
Then inflammation. The lining of the joint becomes irritated. The joint swells, turns warm and hurts, and the swelling presses on the nerves and slows the flow even more.
Then deposits. Mineral the body could not use (hard water, processed food, rock-based calcium) and uric acid crystals settle in and around the joint as spurs and gravel. The cartilage wears rough and thin.
Finally, locking. In long-standing cases the joint enlarges, the muscles around it waste from disuse, and the body lays down scar tissue until the joint can fuse.
Dr. Christopher, quoting Thomas Deschauer, explained how the body turns worn-out tissue into urea and should pass about an ounce of it every day. When that process is left unfinished, or the urea is held in, it turns back into uric acid. Things that hold it in: stopping perspiration, cooling off too quickly, neglecting bathing and clean underclothing, and sleeping in a room with no fresh air. Avoid these if you want to get well.
Dr. Christopher noted that “when an arthritic is badly constipated, the stiffness and pain are worse.” The joint is where it hurts, but the bowel, liver, kidneys and blood are where it starts.
The Kinds of Arthritis
Wear-and-tear arthritis (osteoarthritis) is the most common. The cartilage wears rough and thin and spurs form, usually in the knees, hips, hands and spine.
Rheumatoid arthritis begins in the lining of the joint. The body’s own defenses inflame it, often in matching joints on both sides of the body, with fatigue, morning stiffness that lasts for hours, and flares that come and go. Physical or emotional stress can bring a flare on.
Rheumatism and fibromyalgia cover aching, stiffness and pain in the muscles, tendons and soft tissue around the joints. Dr. Christopher traced rheumatism to poor elimination: toxic matter stagnating in the body.
Gout is uric acid crystals in the joint. Attacks come suddenly, often at night, and usually in one joint, most often the big toe, which turns hot, red, tender and shiny. Left alone, it spreads into the foot, ankle and knees, with indigestion, constipation and scanty urine.
Sciatica is pain, numbness and tingling down the back of the thigh along the sciatic nerve. Dr. Christopher called it sciatic rheumatism and taught that it is not a nerve problem at all: toxic poisons from a congested lowest part of the bowel (the sigmoid colon) irritate the nerve and throw the sacroiliac out of place.
Bursitis is inflammation of the small fluid sacs that cushion a joint. See the Bursitis sheet.
The Emotional Side: the Energy Work
Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing. A person can follow a perfect herbal program, but if she stays in a life that keeps wearing her down, or never makes time to care for herself, the body will keep losing ground. Healing the body often means facing what is happening in the heart and spirit as well.
Stiff joints often go with a stiff heart. Resentment held for years, criticism of ourselves and others, and refusing to bend all lock the flow the same way deposits lock the joint. Rheumatoid arthritis in particular is known to flare with emotional stress.
Dara has found that fibromyalgia can be one of the hardest conditions to clear, and the reason is often not in the body. After years of hurting without being believed, a diagnosis can feel like finally being understood: there is a reason for the pain. Once some people receive it, it becomes part of who they are, and letting go of it can feel like losing something, even though it is the pain. Healing asks for a willingness to be well, and to step out of the role of the one who suffers. That is the heart work, and it matters as much as the herbs.
Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:
Arthritis: feeling unloved; criticism and resentment. Turn it around: I am love. I choose to love and approve of myself, and I see others with love.
Arthritic fingers: a wish to punish; blame; feeling like a victim. Turn it around: I see with love and understanding. I hold every experience up to the light of love.
Rheumatoid arthritis: deep criticism of authority; feeling very put upon. Turn it around: I am my own authority. I love and approve of myself. Life is good.
Rheumatism: feeling like a victim; lack of love; long-held bitterness and resentment. Turn it around: I create my own experiences. As I love and approve of myself and others, my experiences get better and better.
Gout: the need to dominate; impatience and anger. Turn it around: I am safe and secure. I am at peace with myself and with others.
Sciatica: being two-faced; fear about money and the future. Turn it around: I move into my greater good. My good is everywhere, and I am secure and safe.
Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are a reminder of how much the heart is carrying.
Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing
Arthritis involves the joint itself: its cartilage, fluid and lining, and the muscles, tendons and ligaments around it. But the work starts with the bowel that must carry waste out, the liver and kidneys that filter it from the blood, and the blood that feeds the joint and carries the waste away. Clear the blockage, get fresh blood and nutrients into the joint, and keep it moving.
Opening the Way to Healing
1. Clear the blockage.
2. Get the healing nutrients into the area.
3. Let sunshine and fresh air cycle over and through the affected part.
4. Bathe regularly.
5. Move the area as much as you can.
6. Know which area is truly affected. Not where the symptoms show up, but the part causing the issue. That is the area that needs to be cleared. With arthritis the joint is where it hurts, but the bowel, liver and kidneys are where the waste comes from. Clear them, and the joint can let go of what it has been holding.
Quick Relief: Hot Apple Cider Vinegar
Over the years Dara has seen one natural aid act quickly and effectively every time for pain and swelling in the joints: apple cider vinegar.
The hot soak. Soak the inflamed joint in hot water with apple cider vinegar. The hot vinegar works to dissolve the uric acid in the joint, and relief often comes within a few hours or by the next morning. For a joint you can’t soak, wring a towel out of hot vinegar and lay it over the joint, as hot as can be borne without burning the skin.
The daily drink. A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water, one to three times a day, with a little honey if you like. It cuts the toxic waste loose from the joints and supports the kidneys in filtering it out of the system.
Two Formulas That Work Together
Joint Support and BF&C (Bone, Flesh & Cartilage) work very differently, and together they knock down the inflammation and restore the damaged joint.
Joint Support (formerly the Arthritis Formula). Hydrangea root, which Dr. Christopher called the solvent of solvents for mineral deposits; yucca, Mormon tea, chaparral, burdock and sarsaparilla to purify the blood; wild lettuce, valerian and black cohosh to ease pain; black walnut, wormwood and cayenne to carry it all where it needs to go. It takes down the inflammation so healing can begin. Take ½ to 1 teaspoon in a cup of hot water, two to three times a day. Relief is gradual, because there is a long rebuilding job to do.
A&R Salve (Arthritis & Rheumatism), the same formula made as a salve. Spread it on flannel, lay it over the painful joint, and hold it in place with Press’n Seal. Dramatic results often appear when the pack is left on overnight. An arthritic flare can be handled in a few hours with the salve.
BF&C, extract and salve. BF&C knits the damaged joint back together. It works to remove mineral deposits and clears old injuries of adhesions while it rebuilds bone, flesh and cartilage. Take 1 teaspoon three times a day, and use the salve as an overnight pack over the joint. For extremely painful or crippled joints, use both salves as packs.
Using Chaparral and Comfrey With Care
Chaparral is one of the herbs in Joint Support. It has long been regarded as one of the strongest blood purifiers in herbal use and has had years of bad press, but used wisely it supports the body in clearing what has built up. Stay at the dose on this sheet. Avoid it with existing liver disease. If the skin or the whites of the eyes turn yellow, the urine turns dark, or there is pain under the right ribs, stop and have the liver checked.
Comfrey root is one of the nine herbs in BF&C, where it feeds and rebuilds tissue as part of a traditional blend. Take the extract at 1 teaspoon three times a day. Use the salve as an overnight pack, and leave the area open and clear of salves for at least 6 hours each day. More is not faster.
Gout
Ease the attack. Bathe the joint in hot apple cider vinegar; relief often comes within a few hours or by the next morning. A few drops of Lobelia tincture added to the vinegar bath helps relax the joint.
Free the waste. Apple cider vinegar and honey in water three times a day, and a tea of equal parts skullcap, valerian and yarrow to help free the toxic waste from the tissues and carry it out.
Clear the cause. Gout comes from overloading the system with the wrong foods. Improve the eliminative organs (bowel, kidneys and skin) and change the diet, or it will keep coming back and spreading.
Sciatica
Clear the bowel first. No lasting relief will come while the bowel is backed up. Empty and cleanse the lowest part of the bowel with LBF.
The foot soak. Soak the feet in hot water with apple cider vinegar. For faster action, rest the right foot on a plate of freshly chopped garlic while the left foot soaks. Add hot water and more vinegar as it cools. This starts a circulatory movement that brings quick relief.
Burdock and lobelia. Drink burdock root tea, and lay a fomentation of burdock root (or crushed burdock leaves) with one-fourth part lobelia, or a hot apple cider vinegar fomentation, over the hip and down the leg.
Hots and Colds: Getting the Blood Into the Joint
Anytime there is disease or injury there is blockage. Alternating hot and cold water over the joint blasts through the blockage and lets the body flood the area with fresh, nutrient-rich blood. It does no good taking in all the great healing herbs and juices if the nutrition is blocked from the joint.
Think of firing a blood bullet through the blockage. The hot water loads the gun: run the shower or a hand wand as hot as you can tolerate without scalding, over the joint, until the skin is pink with fresh blood. Then switch to cold, which drives the blood out so fresh blood rushes back in. Go back and forth several times, ending on cold. When healing any major disease or injury, do the hots and colds three times a day.
Clearing the Source
The bowel. LBF, building up one capsule a day until the bowels move two or three times a day. A backed-up bowel makes the stiffness and pain worse.
The liver and kidneys. A week of liver flushing followed by a week of kidney flushing, repeated at least every six weeks while clearing and repairing the joints, more often if needed.
Kidney bean pod tea. Dr. Christopher called it a Godsend: one or two quarts a day. He told of a woman of 91 who drank only a few cups a day and could walk without her cane or walker; when she stopped the tea, the trouble came back.
Burdock root tea. One of the best blood purifiers in nature; it increases the flow of urine and relieves congestion in the lymph. Drink it over a period of time.
Kelp. Dr. Christopher found kelp a great help in arthritis and rheumatism, which he tied to faulty kidney function and a lack of the sodium salts.
Water. Plenty of clean, soft or distilled water every day to flush the waste out. Hard water adds to the mineral load.
Feeding the Joint
Live food. Fresh fruits and vegetables and their juices, much of it raw. Celery, cucumber, carrot and apple juices are old favorites for the joints.
Cut the acid-forming foods. Dr. Christopher named eggs, bread, milk, meat, salt and sugar among the worst for arthritic calcification. Processed and overcooked foods add to the load.
Plant calcium the body can use. Superfood and Dr. Christopher’s Calcium formula feed the bones and cartilage without the mineral residue of rock-based calcium.
Cayenne, worked up gradually, keeps the blood moving to the joints.
Sun, Air, Movement and Bathing
Move the joint every day, gently and within comfort. Movement is how cartilage is fed. Walking, stretching and warm water exercise all count.
Sun and air bath for 10 to 15 minutes a day, and walk barefoot in the grass or dirt when you can. Breathe deeply while you’re outside.
Bathe regularly to keep the skin open, and use the Detox Bath to draw waste out through the skin.
Massage helps encourage toxins out of the tissues. M&L Salve softens and relaxes tight muscles around a stiff joint.
When to Get Medical Care
Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. See a doctor for a joint that is suddenly hot, red and very swollen, especially with fever (it can be an infected joint); a joint that may be broken or torn after a fall; new swelling with fatigue, rash or fever, which can be the start of rheumatoid arthritis or another inflammatory disease; or a first gout attack with fever. Sciatica is an emergency when it comes with loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness in the groin or inner thighs, or a leg that grows weak: go to the emergency room right away. Don’t stop a prescribed medication without the doctor.
Level of Commitment
How much is needed depends on how long the trouble has been building:
Gentle support. For occasional stiffness and the first aches. The hot vinegar soak and daily drink, Joint Support, BF&C, daily movement, plenty of water and the Foundational Programs: bowel cleansing, Echinacea and good nutrition.
Focused cleansing. For joints that ache every day, swell, or have begun to change shape. All of the above, plus A&R Salve and BF&C packs overnight, hots and colds three times a day, and a week of liver flushing followed by a week of kidney flushing at least every six weeks. Give it about three months, then keep going: this is a long rebuilding job.
Incurables Program. For crippling or long-standing arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The full Incurables Program, with fresh juices, the mucusless diet, cleansing the bloodstream with HEAL’s Blood Purifying formula, and the BF&C fomentations every night. Blood Purifying also contains chaparral: take it in courses, not continuously, two dropperfuls 4 to 6 times a day for a week at a time in a few ounces of grape juice, while drinking 64 to 128 oz. of liquid a day, with the same liver cautions as above.
More Is Not Faster
These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.
People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.
A Loose Healing Plan
Day 1: ease the pain. Hot apple cider vinegar soak or fomentation, and a salve pack on the worst joint overnight.
Week 1: start the formulas. Joint Support and BF&C, the daily vinegar drink, LBF to get the bowels moving, and plenty of water.
Week 1 onward: hots and colds over the joints, up to three times a day, and gentle movement every day.
Week 2: clear the source. A week of liver flushing, then a week of kidney flushing. Repeat at least every six weeks.
All along: feed the joint. Live food and juices, cut the acid-forming foods, Superfood and plant calcium, kidney bean pod tea.
All along: sun, air, bathing and the heart work. Let go of what you have been holding.
About 3 months: take stock. Relief often comes in weeks; rebuilding a joint takes months. Keep going with what is working.
Stories from the Work
Dara’s Story: A Finger Shooting Bullets
I do a lot of work with my hands: embroidering, painting and all types of crafts to keep myself occupied. I woke up one morning and my index finger was shooting bullets of pain I did not know it had the gun to shoot. On a scale of 1 to 10 it was well into the 9 range. I could hardly stand to touch it, and I could not bend it or move it at all without a lot of pain. I laid a thick layer of the A&R Salve over the entire finger, wrapped it with a roll of gauze and tried to ignore it. By lunchtime the pain was gone, and it did not come back. That was about four hours.
A Member’s Story: A BF&C Pack on an Arthritic Spine
A woman in her 80s was in bed and in pain with an arthritic spine. Her son applied a BF&C pack over her spine at bedtime. The next morning he reported she bounced out of bed feeling “right as rain.” She was not healed overnight. The BF&C had greatly reduced the inflammation around the arthritic areas in her spine, which contributed in a large part to her pain. Her improvement has continued, as it has for everyone who keeps using the formula over an extended period.
From Dr. Christopher: Out of the Wheelchair
In Mesa, Arizona, a young man in his middle twenties, badly crippled with polio and arthritis, was brought into Dr. Christopher’s lecture in a wheelchair and laid on a pile of pillows. He had been told he would never be out of the wheelchair unless it was into a hospital bed. A practical nurse took him into her home and helped him follow the program faithfully. A year later, in the same hall, he walked down the aisle to the front and asked to speak. He was traveling on foot, house to house, selling, to pay off his hospital bills, and he urged everyone to listen and put the program to use.
Watch
Arthritis: Natural Support and Herbal Healing Suggestions.
Pain is not your enemy. It is a friend trying to show you where the damage is, giving you an opportunity to repair it before a worse issue appears. Dulling the area with pain killers only masks the real issue, and numbing it often makes it easy to keep overusing an injured part of the body that needs rest and healing.
Pain Means the Circulation Is Broken
Anything that hinders or breaks circulation causes pain. In nature, water circulates from the oceans to the ground, up to the sky and back down again, and that circulation keeps the earth thriving and healthy. It is the same in the body. Good circulation of nutrients, water, light and air creates a healthy condition. When you lose the ability to move out the waste and bring in fresh nutrients, you end up in pain and with an unhealthy, toxic condition in the body.
Nature’s water cycle and the body’s circulation. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.
Jethro Kloss, author of Back to Eden, taught the same thing: “All pain is caused by disturbance to the circulation because the overfilled vessels put pressure upon the nerves.” Dr. Christopher put it this way: when the system is clogged with wastes, mucus and sludge, “the organism can drown in its own filth. Pain is a result of congestion and degeneration of healthy cells and tissues by poor elimination of waste products.”
Blockage and Injury
Whenever there is injury or disease, there is blockage. Pain is usually caused by blockage, injury or inflammation, or any combination of the three. Clearing the blocked area and allowing free movement through it often relieves the pain quickly.
Congestion and waste. A backed-up bowel, an overloaded liver and sluggish kidneys leave waste in the blood and tissues.
Deposits. Uric acid crystals in gout, old mineral deposits in arthritic joints, and stones and gravel in the kidneys.
Spasm. A muscle locked tight chokes off the blood flow through the area. A kidney under stress can throw the muscles of the back into spasm.
Trapped air. Gas pressure in the stomach and bowel.
Swelling. Inflamed tissue and excess lymph fluid press on the nerves.
Injury. A sprain, a pulled muscle, a break, a wound or a burn tears the vessels and stops the flow.
Pain Killers and the Liver
All the drugs hospitals use for pain place a heavy weight on the liver. It is the liver’s job to clear poisons and drugs from the system, so habitual use of pain medication keeps wearing it down. Dr. Christopher noted that the old opiates hid the true cause of pain while they brought on chronic constipation, a sluggish liver and lethargy, and the original complaint was still there when the drug wore off. The first and most important step with any pain is to understand why it is there.
When Cleansing Stirs Up Pain
When old waste breaks loose from the bowel and the tissues, it can hurt on its way out. These pains may be rough, but they are temporary and subside as the cleansing goes on. Dr. Christopher taught that on a clean, living diet, pain usually means the body is housecleaning. On a diet of acid-forming, mucus-forming and overcooked food, it is a warning that poisonous congestion is building.
Pain That Shows Up Away From Its Source
Pain often shows up somewhere other than where the trouble started. The area that needs clearing is the part causing the issue, not the place the symptoms appear.
A backache that is really the kidneys. When the kidneys are inflamed, the muscles over them go into spasm. Dara’s Three Drinks (see the Kidney Disease sheet) tell the two apart: if they calm the pain, it was the kidneys.
A headache from the bowel. A backed-up bowel sends toxic blood to the head. Keep the bowels clear and the toxic headaches stop.
Sciatica from the bowel. Dr. Christopher taught that crippling pain down the leg comes from toxic poisons in the lowest part of the bowel (the sigmoid colon) irritating the sciatic nerve. Clean out the bowel and the poisons no longer reach the nerve.
A tight chest from trapped air. Gas pressure can make the heart and upper chest feel constricted (see Trapped Air below).
Skin trouble from the liver. With psoriasis and eczema the skin is affected, so we want to treat the skin. The real answer is to clear the liver so it stops pushing toxic waste out through the skin.
The Emotional Side: the Energy Work
Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing. A person can follow a perfect herbal program, but if she stays in a life that keeps wearing her down, or never makes time to care for herself, the body will keep losing ground. Healing the body often means facing what is happening in the heart and spirit as well.
Feelings that are held in instead of let go stop the flow the same way a blockage does. Dr. Christopher wrote that pain and suffering can begin in the mind as well as the body, and that anger, hatred and selfishness can set a person up for physical anguish. Love is the best pain reliever.
Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes this pattern:
Pain: guilt, and guilt is always looking to be punished. Turn it around: I lovingly let go of the past. They are free, and I am free. All is well in my heart now.
Emotional pattern paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House).
Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing
Most acute pain can be quickly cleared without much drama if you can see or understand the driving cause behind it. Clear the blockage and restore the natural circulation through the affected area: waste out, fresh blood and nutrients in.
Opening the Way to Healing
1. Clear the blockage.
2. Get the healing nutrients into the area.
3. Let sunshine and fresh air cycle over and through the affected part.
4. Bathe regularly.
5. Move the area as much as you can.
6. Know which area is truly affected. Not where the symptoms show up, but the part causing the issue. That is the area that needs to be cleared. With psoriasis and eczema, the skin is affected, so we want to treat the skin. But the real answer is to clear the liver so it stops pushing toxic waste out through the skin. Then the body quickly clears the skin, and the topical supports become effective in healing the damage.
Keep the Bowels Open
The bowels must be kept open and clean so the body can absorb nutrients and carry waste out of the cells through the blood and lymph. Nothing else on this sheet works for long while the bowel is backed up. Use LBF, building up one capsule a day until the bowels move two or three times a day. Slippery elm tea soothes an inflamed bowel.
Hot and Cold: Getting the Blood Moving
Kloss taught that hot and cold applications, alternated for thirty minutes or more, relieve congestion faster than any other remedy. Heat relaxes the tissues and takes the pressure off the nerves; the cold that follows drives the blood out, and fresh blood rushes back in.
Hot and cold fomentations. A towel wrung out of hot water, as hot as can be borne, then a cold towel. Dry the skin between each round. Dr. Christopher ran them the full length of the spine for deep pain, as well as over the painful area.
Hot baths increase the circulation and have eased pain both inside and out. Arthritis and hemorrhoid pain respond well to hot water.
The castor oil liver fomentation. A flannel soaked in hot castor oil over the liver (right side, under the ribs), a hot wet towel over it and a hot water bottle on top, 20 minutes; then a cold towel for 5 minutes. Repeat for up to an hour and a half. It has relieved the pain of congestion in the liver, gallbladder and pancreas.
The Ice Towel for headache. Wet a towel, fold it in thirds and freeze it until icy (about 45 minutes). Wrap it around the head while the legs soak in a bucket of hot water. This drives the congestion out of the head and pulls the excess blood down to the legs. Most headaches begin to ease in 10 to 15 minutes.
Hot apple cider vinegar. For gout and inflamed joints, soak the painful part in hot apple cider vinegar; relief often comes within a few hours or by the next morning. Drink a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water three times a day to help clear the uric acid from the joints. The Arthritis sheet gives detailed instructions for clearing gout.
Sweating: Opening the Skin
The skin is one of the great ways waste leaves the body, and sunshine and fresh air on the skin are part of opening the way. Dr. Christopher taught that wherever the trouble is in the body, if the general circulation is involved, sweating helps dramatically. Drink hot yarrow tea, or take a ginger bath, and let the body sweat; then rest, wrapped up warm.
Spasm and Soft Tissue Injury
A spasm is a muscle locked tight, and it chokes off the circulation through the area. M&L Salve stops the spasm. BF&C Salve repairs the damage. BF&C Salve is the answer for any soft tissue injury. Once the ice comes off, wrap or pack the area with BF&C Salve. As long as nothing was ripped or torn, it should recover by morning.
M&L Salve (mullein & lobelia) relaxes spastic muscles and releases a locked-up joint. It also moves excess lymph fluid out of an injured area, which eases the pain and lets the circulation back in. Massage it into the muscle; for a severe spasm, add a dropperful of Lobelia by mouth.
Over the spine, too. Dr. Christopher rubbed lobelia over the area of the spine whose nerves feed the painful part, as well as on the sore spot itself.
BF&C (Bone, Flesh & Cartilage). The salve packed over the injury overnight, and the extract by mouth, 1 teaspoon three times a day, to knit the tissue back together. With time it also clears old injuries of adhesions and the mineral deposits behind arthritic pain.
Lobelia for cramps. Lobelia or M&L Salve is good for any kind of cramping. By mouth, 1 good dropperful usually does the job; up to 2, depending on size and how severe it is.
Arthritic flares and inflamed joints. An arthritic flare can be handled in a few hours with the A&R Salve. Joint Support (the extract) and A&R Salve (the same formula as a salve) take down the inflammation so healing can begin; BF&C then rebuilds the joint. For a stubborn joint, apply the A&R Salve as a pack overnight.
Using Comfrey With Care
Comfrey root is one of the nine herbs in BF&C, where it feeds and rebuilds tissue as part of a traditional blend. Take the extract at the dose on this sheet, 1 teaspoon three times a day. Use the salve as an overnight pack, and leave the area open and clear of salves for at least 6 hours each day. More is not faster.
Nerve Pain
G-Nervine Salve and the General Nervine. The nervine herbs calm the fiery, throbbing pain of an injured or pinched nerve, shingles and nerve injuries. Apply the salve, or the General Nervine tincture straight from the bottle, over the painful area; when it begins to wear off, apply more. The valerian in it is sedating, even on the skin, so expect to feel sleepy.
Sciatica. Clear the bowel first; no lasting relief will come while it is backed up. For quick relief, soak the feet in hot water with apple cider vinegar. For faster action, rest the right foot on a plate of freshly chopped garlic while the left foot soaks. Add hot water and more vinegar as it cools. This starts a circulatory movement that brings quick relief. The Arthritis sheet gives detailed instructions for clearing sciatica.
Swollen glands and lymph nodes. A fomentation of mullein and lobelia (3 parts mullein to 1 part lobelia), or the M&L Salve, has reduced pain and swelling in the lymph nodes of the neck, under the arms, the breasts and the groin.
Trapped Air and a Crampy Bowel
Trapped Air: Pressure, Not Cramping
Trapped air feels like pressure, as if you want to explode. The stomach feels hard all the way across, and the heart and upper chest can feel constricted. Take 2 teaspoons of the L-P Formula and 2 teaspoons of the Digestive Tonic in a few ounces of hot water, which drives off the alcohol. Follow it with a swallow or two of juice or a nice-tasting tea if you like. Then lie down on your right side for a few minutes. The formulas displace the pressure and let the blocked air move through the system. Lying down also relaxes the stomach muscles, so the trapped air can pass more easily. Before long you may begin burping or passing gas. Either way, the pressure is relieved.
Keep a cup of cayenne tea ready while you wait for the gas remedy to work. If the tightness in the chest doesn’t ease within a few minutes, gets worse, or comes with pain running into the arm, jaw or back, shortness of breath, sweating or nausea, treat it as the heart: give the cayenne and call 911 (see Chest Pain below).
A Crampy Bowel
A crampy bowel is a different feeling. It can come with loose stool, or you can be crampy with nothing coming out at all. Either way, stir a rounded teaspoon of LBF #2 into 6 oz of water or juice and drink it all at once. Then sit in your favorite chair with a heating pad across your stomach. LBF #2 quickly absorbs what is irritating the bowel and firms the stool, and the cramping usually ends within 5 to 10 minutes. Even if you’re stuck on the potty, it only takes a few minutes before you can move to your chair and get comfortable with the heating pad.
Chest Pain and Heart Attack
In a heart attack, a blockage breaks the circulation to the heart, and the pain is the heart crying out. Cayenne supports the heart and blasts through the blockage. That restores the circulation, and restoring the circulation is what ends the pain.
For chest pain: stir 1 teaspoon of cayenne and 1 tablespoon of hawthorn berry extract into a cup of hot water and sip it as a tea.
If the person takes any drug that slows the heart rate, such as a beta blocker (metoprolol, atenolol, propranolol) or digoxin, leave out the hawthorn and give the cayenne alone. If you’re not sure whether a medicine slows the heart, ask the pharmacist.
The pain stopping doesn’t mean the heart is well. It is still sick, clogged and damaged, so the work of healing needs to begin or continue. Dr. Christopher said to “follow with the diet, bowel cleaning and heart foods from then on until healing is fully evident.”
A Heart Attack Is an Emergency
Call 911 first. Give the cayenne while help is on the way, not instead of it.
Quick Relief for Common Pains
Each of these has its own sheet; here are the first steps.
Toothache. The Tooth & Gum formula on a cotton swab over the tooth. Oil of cloves or a few drops of cayenne tincture will do in a pinch.
Earache. Two or three drops of warm mullein flower oil or garlic oil in the ear, two or three times a day, massaging around the ear. The Infection Poultice over the ear often draws the infection out overnight.
Sore throat. Freeze a damp washcloth (20 to 30 minutes) and sip a teaspoon of Herbal Antibiotic in a cup of hot water with honey, letting it wash over the throat. Then wrap the frozen cloth around the neck, cover it with a hand towel and pin it. The cold draws fresh blood full of infection fighters to the throat. No eating or drinking while it thaws, about 45 minutes.
Menstrual cramps. One good dropperful of Lobelia by mouth usually ends them in about 20 minutes; M&L Salve over the lower belly helps too.
Kidney stone pain. Hot fomentations over the kidneys are the go-to: people rolling on the floor in agony have been comfortable in 15 minutes or less. Keep the fluids going. See the Kidney Disease sheet and the Stone Dissolve Routine.
Gallbladder attack. See the Gallbladder Attack & Gallstones sheet.
Shingles. The pain of shingles is nerve pain, and the G-Nervine Salve over the inflamed area stops it. One man who had been in so much pain he could barely sleep or wear clothes for nearly three weeks got relief shortly after the salve went on, and slept a good five hours that night. Shingles near the eye needs a doctor right away. See the Shingles sheet for clearing the virus.
Muscle tension headache and stiff neck. M&L Salve massaged over the tight muscles of the neck and head.
Insect stings and spider bites. Plantain ointment or crushed fresh plantain leaves over the bite. Red streaks running from a bite need medical care the same day; keep the plantain on alongside it.
Cuts, scrapes and burns. BF&C Salve; the BF&C herbs make one of the best burn pastes.
When to Get Medical Care
Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get help right away for chest pain that doesn’t ease quickly, sudden severe pain anywhere, a severe headache that comes on like a thunderclap, pain with a high fever or a stiff neck, red streaks running from a wound or bite, a possible broken bone or torn tendon, or any pain after a serious fall or accident. Don’t stop a prescribed medication without the doctor.
Level of Commitment
How much is needed depends on what is causing the pain and how long it has been building:
Gentle support. For a sudden pain with a plain cause: a spasm, a sprain, gas, a headache, a crampy bowel. Use the quick relief on this sheet, keep the bowels open, drink plenty of water and rest the injured part. Most of these clear in hours or days.
Focused cleansing. For pain that keeps coming back: headaches, back pain, sciatica, arthritis, gout. Bowel cleansing with LBF, a week of liver flushing, then an ELF (Emergency Liver Flush) once a week, with weeks of kidney flushing alternated in. Hot and cold hydrotherapy, BF&C and the salves over the painful area, daily movement and sunshine. Give it about three months.
Incurables Program. For pain that comes from a serious or long-standing disease. Find the sheet for that condition; the pain will ease as the blockage behind it clears. The full Incurables Program includes cleansing the bloodstream with HEAL’s Blood Purifying formula. Blood Purifying contains chaparral, which has long been regarded as one of the strongest blood purifiers in herbal use. It has had years of bad press, but used wisely it supports the body in clearing what has built up. Use with care: take Blood Purifying in courses, not continuously: two dropperfuls 4 to 6 times a day for a week at a time, in a few ounces of grape juice, while drinking 64 to 128 oz. of liquid a day. Avoid it with existing liver disease. If the skin or the whites of the eyes turn yellow, the urine turns dark, or there is pain under the right ribs, stop and have the liver checked.
More Is Not Faster
These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.
People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.
A Loose Healing Plan
In the moment: find out what kind of pain it is. Blockage, injury, spasm, trapped air or the heart? Rule out an emergency first.
First hours: open the way. Use the quick relief that fits: hot and cold, M&L or BF&C Salve, the trapped-air or crampy-bowel remedy, the Ice Towel, a vinegar soak.
Same day onward: get the bowels moving. LBF, plenty of water, and live food.
First week or two: feed the repair. BF&C extract and salve packs for injury; Superfood for nutrition; rest the injured part, then move it as much as you can.
For pain that keeps coming back: clear the source. A week of liver flushing, then an ELF once a week, with weeks of kidney flushing alternated in. Hot and cold hydrotherapy several times a week.
All along: sunshine, fresh air, bathing, movement and the heart work. Let go of what you’ve been holding.
About 3 months: take stock. Long-standing pain takes steady work to clear. Keep going with what is working.
Stories from the Work
Dara’s Story: A “Fire Ball” in My Knee
What you might call a “fire ball” of pain had developed in my knee. None of the regular herbal remedies were bringing any level of relief. Searching in Dr. Christopher’s writings, I found a reference to the use of nervine herbs for nerve pain. I applied the General Nervine Tonic directly from the bottle to the painful area on my knee. It was as if I’d taken a fire hose to the pain. It just wiped it out. I was amazed. The relief lasted about three hours, and when it began to wear off I applied more. It continued to work. We quickly made a salve from the formula, which continued to relieve the pain in my injured knee. Over the next few months I found the salve worked great on the pain of shingles and nerve injuries; if it is pain from an injured or pinched nerve, this salve is helpful.
Dara’s Story: Twelve Years of Back Spasms
A car accident in the late summer of 1985 caused a compression break to a vertebra in my lower back. For years afterward, out of the blue, my back would go into a spasm and send me to the floor in a world of hurt. All of this came to a blessed end when I discovered the BF&C formula in the late 1990s. Three months after I began using the body-repairing herbs in the BF&C, the devastating back spasms ended.
Dara’s Story: My Husband’s Back
My husband is 6’4” and thinks he is still 19 years old. He sprains his back at least once a year. One time he wouldn’t wait for help to arrive so the two of them could move a new, oversized piece of furniture into the house. He did it on his own and paid dearly for it. The next morning he could not even lift his head off the pillow. When he couldn’t get up, he began taking the BF&C I suggested. By the end of the day he was on his feet, shuffling around like an old man. By day two he was back to himself, still a bit sore but moving normally. Last time it was moving wet lumber. I use the M&L Salve to stop the spasm and the BF&C Salve to repair the damage.
A Story from the Work: Sciatica and a Foot Soak
Someone close to the work was suffering badly with sciatica and decided to give our foot soak a try. We filled her foot basin with hot water and two cups of apple cider vinegar. Her left foot went into the hot soak while her right foot rested on a plate of freshly chopped garlic. As the water cooled we added more hot water and more vinegar. Her pain nearly cleared during the 45-minute soak, and over the next several hours she became completely pain free.
Arthritis seems to be everywhere right now. A joint that has become hot, swollen and painful is usually a joint where waste and mineral deposits have built up: calcium the body accepted but never assimilated, settling where it doesn’t belong. Clearing that takes time, but it can be done.
This formula brings together herbs that detoxify; herbs that act as a solvent for those calcium deposits; herbs that relieve pain; herbs rich in organic calcium the body can actually use; and herbs that fight fungus and infection. Relief is not immediate, because there is a long rebuilding job to do. Gradual relief can come, and full recovery, if the program is followed faithfully. Dr. Christopher taught that it should be made both as a salve and as an extract, and we make it both ways.
What a Good Joint Formula Contains
A good formula for arthritic joints might contain these thirteen herbs:
Hydrangea Root, 6 parts. Dr. Christopher called it the solvent of solvents; there was no greater aid, he taught, for getting rid of stones and inorganic mineral deposits throughout the body.
Mormon Tea, 4 parts. An aid for reducing swelling and inflammation, long used as a blood purifier and for rheumatism.
Chaparral, 4 parts. A strong blood purifier and anti-rheumatic.
Black Walnut Hulls, 3 parts. A powerful cleansing herb rich in organic iodine, antiseptic and antifungal.
Burdock Root, 1 part. One of the best blood-purifying herbs in nature; it increases the flow of urine and relieves congestion in the lymph.
Sarsaparilla Root, 1 part. A tonic blood purifier, useful in rheumatism that stems from impure blood.
Wild Lettuce, 1 part. A mild, calming herb long used to ease pain.
Valerian Root, 1 part. A nervine that calms and feeds frayed nerves and eases pain.
Black Cohosh, 1 part. A nervine and antispasmodic that feeds and strengthens the nervous system.
Lobelia, 1 part. Removes obstructions and congestion within the body, especially in the blood vessels.
Wormwood, 1 part. The most bitter herb there is, a stimulating tonic and antiseptic for the whole system.
African Bird Pepper, 1 part. Brings fresh blood to the joint and carries the other herbs where they need to go.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 6 ounces of Hydrangea, 4 each of Yucca, Mormon Tea and Chaparral, 3 of Black Walnut, and 1 ounce each of the rest.
Putting It Together
The extract: Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
The salve: fully extract the herbs in extra virgin olive oil in a 150-degree oven for three hours, swap the spent herbs for fresh, and do it three times through. Strain and thicken with beeswax.
How to Use It
The extract: ½ to 1 teaspoon in a cup of hot distilled water, two to three times a day.
The salve: apply as a pack over the painful, inflamed joint. Spread the salve on flannel, lay it over the joint, and hold it in place with Press’n Seal wrap. Dramatic results often appear when the pack is left on overnight.
Kidney bean pod tea: 1 to 2 quarts a day.
Apple cider vinegar: a tablespoon in a glass of water three times a day helps clear uric acid from inflamed joints, and soaking the joint in hot water with apple cider vinegar brings relief.
This formula takes down the inflammation so healing can begin; the bone, flesh and cartilage formula in Knitting Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Back Together knits the damaged joint back together. The two work very differently, and together. Pair them with the mucusless diet and the foundational programs; see Arthritis.
For an overview of how I use herbal salves as topical applications, here is my video:
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
This is a make-it-yourself lotion for repairing damaged tissue, muscle and bone. It promotes the growth of new cells and bone, correcting and healing problem areas, and it has helped many people, and horses, dogs and cats, with back pain, torn ligaments, arthritis, cuts, pulled muscles, knee injuries and more. It also doubles as a poultice base when an area needs deeper work.
What Goes Into It
For the herb-infused oil:
32 ounces extra virgin olive oil
⅛ cup each of these dried, powdered herbs (1 cup in all): Arnica, Comfrey, St. John’s Wort, Plantain, Mullein, White Oak Bark, Skullcap and Lobelia
4 ounces Fire Cayenne powder (300,000 heat units)
For the aloe blend:
1 quart organic aloe vera gel
1½ cups castor oil
1 ounce peppermint oil
1 ounce wintergreen oil (or replace both the peppermint and wintergreen with tea tree oil)
Putting It Together
Warm the oil base. Put the olive oil in a glass pan and stir in the powdered herbs and the cayenne. Warm it on low heat on the stove, or on the lowest setting in the oven or a slow cooker, for 1 to 2 hours, stirring now and then. Don’t let it boil. Take it off the heat.
Blend the aloe base. While the oil warms, blend the aloe gel, castor oil, peppermint oil and wintergreen oil in a blender until white and creamy.
Combine. Once the herb oil has cooled, strain out the herbs through a cotton cloth. Add the strained oil to the aloe blend and blend again.
Store. Bottle it and keep it in the refrigerator. It makes about 2 quarts.
To powder your own herbs, a small electric grinder works well; shake it while it grinds. Don’t worry about exact measurements. Use a little more or less of any ingredient, or leave one out if you don’t have it on hand.
How to Use It
Rub the lotion into the injured area as needed.
To make a poultice, mix the lotion with slippery elm bark powder until it’s the consistency you want. This is a powerful formula that breaks up and releases toxins, so use the lotion alone for at least 3 days before putting a poultice on top of it, to give the bloodstream and immune system time to build up their defenses. When you wrap, put the poultice on first, then a layer of cotton muslin, then the wrap. Leave it on for 2 hours at first, and only lengthen the time if the person or animal doesn’t feel ill. Wash a wrap before using it again, since it draws toxins out too.
This oil is all about circulation. It brings fresh blood to a sore, injured or blocked area and sends it deep through the tissue. Wintergreen oil and menthol give it the same warming, tingling action as the classic muscle rubs, Cayenne and Ginger add their own circulating heat, and Arnica, St. John’s Wort and Marigold (Calendula), infused into olive oil, soothe bruised and overworked tissue.
It eases sore, stiff muscles and aching joints, warms the area and draws the blood to it.
What Goes Into It
32 ounces extra virgin olive oil. The carrier the herbs are infused into.
6 ounces of dry herbs: Arnica Flowers, St. John’s Wort and Marigold Flowers in equal parts, with a half part of cut Ginger Root (in a 6-ounce pack, that’s about 1¾ ounces each of the three flowers and a scant ounce of Ginger). Arnica is the traditional herb for bruises, sprains and overworked muscles, St. John’s Wort soothes nerve pain and irritated tissue, Marigold is gentle and skin-soothing, and Ginger adds its own warming, circulating effect.
4 ounces Fire Cayenne powder. A warming circulatory stimulant that draws the blood to the area.
12 ounces menthol crystals. The cooling-then-warming tingle that helps ease muscle and joint pain.
16 ounces wintergreen oil. The main warming agent and the source of the deep, penetrating heat. Its main compound, methyl salicylate, is closely related to aspirin.
Putting It Together
Put the olive oil in a glass pan and warm it on low heat on the stove. Stir in the dry herbs and the cayenne.
Let it warm for 1 hour on low heat, stirring now and then. Don’t let it boil. Take it off the heat.
When it has cooled slightly, strain the herbs out of the oil. A fine wire strainer works well.
While the oil is still warm, stir in the menthol crystals. They will melt in the remaining heat; don’t reheat it.
Once it has cooled to room temperature, add all of the wintergreen oil.
Bottle it and store it in a cool place. Don’t refrigerate it. It makes about 1½ quarts.
How to Use It
Massage a small amount into sore muscles or joints as needed. It’s strong, so try it on a small spot first to see how your skin takes it. It is for the outside of the body only; keep it away from the eyes, mouth and broken skin, and wash your hands after using it. Don’t put a heating pad, hot bath or tight wrap over it, since the extra heat on top of the cayenne, menthol and wintergreen can burn. Keep the bottle well out of children’s reach; wintergreen oil is dangerous to swallow.
Dr. Christopher noted that the nervine herbs are good for nerve pain. I took him at his word and put my calming nervine blend into a salve, and it has become a favorite for that fiery, throbbing ball of pain that settles over an overused or injured knee.
Pain like that keeps you from a good night’s sleep and from moving and exercising during the day. This salve soaks into the inflamed nerves and lets them calm down. There’s no numbing; the throbbing simply stops. It has calmed nerve pain in knees, ankles and necks, and it has also eased the nerve pain that comes with shingles.
I’ve found it works quickly during the night, letting me get a good night’s rest when a knee or other joint is flaring up.
What a Good Nervine Salve Contains
A good nervine salve might contain these five herbs, in equal parts:
Skullcap, 1 part. One of the most trusted nervine herbs, calming nervous tension.
Hops, 1 part. A gentle sedative herb that eases restlessness and inflammation.
Valerian Root, 1 part. A classic nervine, valued for calming irritated nerves and easing pain.
Gentian Root, 1 part. One of the most bitter herbs there is, rounding out the blend.
Black Cohosh, 1 part. Long used to ease nervous tension and carry the body through inflammation.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s simply equal ounces of all five. These are the same five herbs as the calming formula I use for sleep and for crisis, taken by mouth.
Lavender essential oil finishes the salve. It softens Valerian’s strong, earthy smell, and it is a nervine and an anti-inflammatory in its own right, so it adds to the calming rather than just covering the smell.
Putting It Together
Fully extract the herbs in extra virgin olive oil in a 150-degree oven for three hours, swap the spent herbs for fresh, and do it three times through. Strain, thicken with beeswax, and stir in the lavender oil at the end.
How to Use It
Rub it into the painful area as often as needed. At night, a good layer before bed is often what lets you sleep through.
Once the Pain Settles
Once the pain and inflammation are under control, it’s time to rebuild the injured area. A joint that has been compromised needs a steady program to clear the injury and restore its strength. For that I turn to the bone, flesh and cartilage formula in Knitting Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Back Together, and to Mullein and Lobelia to release a locked-up joint and move excess lymph fluid out of the area.
Hydrotherapy matters too. Anytime you have injury or illness, you have blockage, and alternating hot and cold water is all about clearing it. The hot water brings fresh blood to the area, and the cold sends that fresh blood driving through the blockage, like loading and firing a blood bullet. The more dramatic the change between hot and cold, the deeper that blood, with all its healing nutrients, will reach. See Hydrotherapy, the Ultimate Healing Tool and Back, Knee and Sciatic Pain: My Stories.
For an overview of how I use herbal salves as topical applications, here is my video:
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
Mullein and Lobelia is one of the simplest combinations I know, just two herbs, and one of the most surprising. Dr. Christopher called it his glandular formula, and we first made it into a salve for support of the glandular system. We had no idea what else it could do until our very first batch had just cooled in the jars.
What It Contains
This is a two-herb combination:
Mullein, 3 parts. Mullein has a special affinity for the glands and the respiratory organs. It calms and quiets inflamed, irritated tissue, and it supports the movement of excess lymph fluid out of an injured area.
Lobelia, 1 part. To my mind, the best antispasmodic there is. It works to release muscles and joints that have locked up.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for both herbs. By weight, 3 ounces of Mullein go with 1 ounce of Lobelia.
The same two herbs can be taken internally as an extract for glandular support, but the salve is where this combination really surprised me.
Making the Salve
The herbs are extracted in extra virgin olive oil in a 150-degree oven for three hours. With most salves I swap the spent herbs for fresh ones and run them through three times, but Mullein is the problem child. It’s a sponge and soaks up far too much of the oil, so this one only goes through once. The finished oil is thickened with beeswax.
The olive oil isn’t just a carrier. It is rich in vitamin E and antioxidants and nourishes the skin on its own. The beeswax adds vitamin A and forms a protective, moisturizing seal, so the salve stays put and does its work.
A Frozen Knee
I slid off our bed one morning to find my right knee locked. It was frozen, I was in a lot of pain, and I couldn’t get back up on the bed or move. I have no idea how a jar of our new Mullein and Lobelia salve happened to be on my night table, but there it was. I was strongly impressed to put a bit on my knee. I knew Lobelia was an antispasmodic, so the idea wasn’t completely out of left field.
What happened next can only be described as miraculous. I smeared a small amount over my knee, and instantly the knee released. I was able to walk away without pain. It just let go.
My husband Michael was his normal skeptical self when I told him, until the summer his own knee locked up. I handed him the jar, and his knee released instantly too. Now he sings its praises.
Other Ways We’ve Used It
Frozen fingers: A member in California had overused her hands until her fingers were frozen in a claw. She called five minutes after the salve arrived to say her fingers had released.
Massage support: Massage is an important part of any natural healing program, because toxins need to be encouraged out of the tissues. Apply the salve over the difficult areas and give the muscles a few minutes before the work begins. They relax quickly in response.
Stiff neck and tension headaches: The salve relaxes the muscle spasm in my neck and shoulders. When there’s nerve pain too, I pair it with a nerve-calming salve, and together they work like a charm.
Sore feet: One of our members uses it daily on her sore feet and finds that steady use keeps her foot pain away.
How to Use It
Apply directly to the area as needed.
Here I show how I use this salve for tight, spastic muscles:
For an overview of how I use herbal salves as topical applications, here is my video:
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
When bone, connective tissue or skin has been injured, strained or broken down, the body needs more than time to knit itself back together. It needs concentrated nutrition for the rebuilding work. That’s what this combination provides. It is one of Dr. Christopher’s classic formulas, built around two lead herbs, White Oak Bark and Comfrey Root, with seven helpers that each bring something of their own.
It can be used two ways: taken by mouth as an extract, to nourish rebuilding from within, and made into a salve for cuts, bruises, burns and other surface injuries. The two are often used together, one from the inside and one from the outside.
What a Good Tissue-Rebuilding Formula Contains
Here is the combination I trust, with the proportions:
White Oak Bark, 6 parts. A co-lead herb and a strong traditional astringent, valued for toning and tightening tissue, from varicose veins to bleeding gums.
Comfrey Root, 6 parts. The other co-lead herb, the classic tissue-rebuilding herb. Traditionally it is the single most important herb for knitting bone, flesh and cartilage back together.
Mullein, 3 parts. A soothing, mucilaginous herb, traditionally paired with tissue-healing blends for its gentling, calming action on inflamed tissue.
Marshmallow Root, 3 parts. Another soothing, mucilaginous herb. It works alongside Mullein to protect the tissue while White Oak Bark and Comfrey do the rebuilding.
Black Walnut Hulls, 3 parts. Astringent, and long included in skin-healing blends for cuts, bruises and infection.
Gravel Root, 3 parts. Traditionally used to support healthy fluid balance and to help move deposits along, which is why this formula has been used for calcium spurs.
Wormwood, 2 parts. A traditional bitter herb, in a modest supporting amount.
Skullcap, 1 part. A traditional nervine, in a small amount to support the body through pain or tremor.
Lobelia, 1 part. A relaxant and circulatory herb, in the very small supporting role it plays in many of Dr. Christopher’s combinations.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, 6 ounces each of White Oak Bark and Comfrey Root go with 3 ounces each of Mullein, Marshmallow Root, Black Walnut Hulls and Gravel Root, 2 ounces of Wormwood, and 1 ounce each of Skullcap and Lobelia.
How It Works
White Oak Bark’s astringency tones and tightens tissue, while Comfrey Root supplies the nutrients traditionally credited with rebuilding bone, flesh and cartilage. Gravel Root helps move deposits along, Mullein and Marshmallow Root soothe and protect the tissue while the rebuilding happens, Black Walnut Hulls support the skin, and Wormwood, Skullcap and Lobelia round out the blend in small amounts.
Over the years this combination has traditionally been used for sprains, pulled muscles, varicose veins and calcium deposits, as well as for cuts, bruises and burns on the surface.
Putting It Together
As an extract: Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
As a salve: The same herbs are fully extracted in extra virgin olive oil. They go into a 150-degree oven for three hours, then the spent herbs are swapped out for fresh ones, three times through in all. The finished oil is thickened with beeswax.
How Much and How Often
For the extract, a common amount is 2 to 4 dropperfuls (½ to 1 teaspoon) three to five times a day. For something fresh and acute, like a new injury, it can be taken as often as every hour, then dropped back down once it’s healing well.
The salve is applied directly to the area as needed. For deeper injuries, use it alongside the extract, for support from both directions.
What I’ve Seen
Long before I ever made my first batch of the salve, a friend of mine, a piano teacher up in Michigan, was already after me to make one. She was thrilled when it finally existed, and her routine was to rub the salve into her hands at night and sleep in mittens. Years later, her boyfriend talked her into marrying him, and for a wedding present he gave her a dog. One afternoon she was coming inside and the dog caught her arm badly enough to leave a real injury. She called me the next day and opened with, “It’s like it never happened.” That was the first I’d even heard anything had happened at all. The salve had done its work overnight.
For an overview of how I use herbal salves as topical applications, here is my video:
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
Herbal first aid for soft tissue injuries. Sprains or strains of the joints anywhere on the body can cause painful inflammation. The first step would be to ice the area if there is any chance of internal bleeding or bruising. Arnica oil will prevent bruising from forming when applied directly after the impact.
Note: Arnica Oil should not be applied directly into an open wound.
An additional aid for internal bleeding would be to take a dose of Cayenne, a glass of hot lemonade would be helpful. This is a cold drink consisting of 16 to 32 ounces of water, 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp cayenne, Lemon juice and Maple syrup to taste.
After the ice pack has done its job or if not Icing is required, as in the case of overuse of a joint, or any case where there was no impact or concern for internal bleeding, apply a pack with a good Healing Salve with anti-inflammatory properties. A good combination of herbs and essential oils could be, Comfrey Root; Marshmallow Root, Marigold Herb, Beeswax; Essential oil of Rosemary, Lavender, Frankincense and Helichrysum
Apply as a salve pack over the abused or damaged joint for a couple of hours. This combination of herbs will knock down the inflammation around the damaged area and allow healing to happen more quickly. Also this will aid in keeping the discomfort from increasing. (Remember, pain comes from blockage, clearing the blockage will knock down the pain.)
A good herbal combination to aid in restoring the damaged joint is Dr Christopher’s BFC formula. His combination of herbs supports with the nutrition to “knit” the body back together. BFC, Stands for Bones, Flesh, and Cartilage, this herbal combination of, White Oak Bark, Comfrey Root, Gravel Root, Mullein Leaf, Marshmallow Root, Black Walnut Hulls, Wormwood, Skullcap, Lobelia is an helpful aid for providing the body with the nutrition needed to repair damage to the Bones, Flesh, and Cartilage.
The formula can be applied as a salve pack over the affected area. It is also wonderful as an herbal extract taken as a cup of tea internally. Leave pack on overnight, depending on how extensive the damage continue to use allowing the area to “breath” without a pack for 6 to 8 hours each day.
