Integra Massage

My 86 year old mother came to stay recently.  She had warned me on the phone that her knee was bad and she she couldn’t walk far.  She is an amazing person, a retired pediatrician and lay preacher always full of interest and adventure. Well we had a lovely visit but yes that knee really limited her. It was painful, swollen and walking more than a few yards was giving her grief. To watch her creeping slowly up stairs was pitiful.I sent her home with a herbal tincture mixture to take three times a day for the next two weeks.  The herbs were:

Celery Seed
Nettle Leaf
Black Cohosh
Meadowsweet

These are all herbs with a tradition of use for treating arthritis and rheumatism through their anti inflammatory, cleansing, pain relieving and relaxing actions.

Two weeks later my mother called: “I am the last person to believe in miracle cures but I’ve been taking the tinctures and although my knee is still quite swollen and can be sore, the pain is much less.  I can walk much further, but most important, I can go up stairs normally.  I haven’t been able to do that for months. Thank you.”

That is a pretty amazing result in two weeks.  If we were to continue, and may be add an external liniment of Bladderwrack or Comfrey or something similar there will almost certainly be an even bigger improvement.

Rheumatic and arthritic aches and pain have been around as long a human kind.  A vast number of herbs consequently have a tradition of preventing and relieving these problems.  Some like Devil’s Claw and more recently Rosehip have become mass market consumer products.  However no herb is a cure all.  A herbalist will approach arthritis by looking at the whole person and as I did for my mother formulate a balanced combination of herbs that address the deeper causes as well as symptoms. Many of the most useful herbs such as nettle and meadowsweet are common wayside weeds.  Addressing diet, exercise and lifestyle would also be important.

Herbal approaches to arthritis are complemented by physical therapies such as massage which can relax connective tissue and muscles, open and realign compressed joints, improve circulation and reduce swelling.  Integra’s  Integrate Tissue Release therapy includes special techniques which can increase the lubrication of joints.  On a number of occasions I have been able to remove the need for surgery.