Arnica (Arnica montana) is a well-known wound herb with a long history of use in the mountainous parts of Europe where injuries arising from falls are common. It is called leopard’s bane or wolf’s bane, and grows all the way from Siberia to the snowline in the Alps, preferring poor acidic soils.

The tincture can be applied externally or made into a cream for treating bruises, strains and tenderness in muscles and other deep tissues. The most common use is for knocks, falls and sport-related injuries, but it is also good for treating carbuncles, crops of boils, gout and bee stings.

When taken internally, the tincture has been used to treated fevers, flu, rheumatism and oedema; however, it can be poisonous in high dose so the homeopathic remedy is taken instead. King’s American Dispensatory states that, ‘in large doses, Arnica causes heat in the throat, nausea, vomiting, purging, spasmodic contractions of the limbs, difficulty of respiration, and sometimes inflammation of the alimentary canal, and coma.’ The tincture may also cause a deep erysipelatous inflammation if used externally on broken skin.¹

Because of the tendency to cause a rash, herbalists often use other herbs such as St John’s wort, yarrow, nettle or marigold for treating open wounds, ulcers, and burns. The surgeon Edmund Carlton used marigold tincture for all his surgical procedures, remarking that it enabled better wound cleanliness and faster healing than the antiseptic alternatives.²

Arnica was also once known as a tonic for treating states of debility, and will help bring rest and relief after a long day of physical exertion in which a patient cannot sleep due to over-tiredness and restlessness caused by aching muscles. If there is injury due to strains then a course of Arnica can begin and often complete treatment, even for injuries sustained some time ago by accident or from surgery.

Similarly, Arnica finds a useful application in dental work where it can take the pain away. I have had several experiences which impressed me, where Arnica encouraged healing and took away bruising in a remarkably short time. The most memorable followed a tooth extraction under anaesthetic: on leaving the surgery with the usual numb lip and dribbling mouth, I put some homeopathic Arnica under my tongue and crossed the narrow footpath to the carpark opposite. Just as I put the key in the car door the numbness abruptly ceased and there was no tooth pain either.

Anyone using homeopathy will have many satisfying case examples: a middle-aged woman over-strained her back when shifting a heavy wardrobe and a few doses of homeopathic Arnica soon healed the pain; a rider was thrown onto the hard ground when his horse reared, and the bruised hip was better in just a few days; an elderly man suffered a knock on the corner of a table to his knee which made walking difficult, and homeopathic Arnica followed by another remedy, gradually strengthened the knee. Indeed, homeopathic Arnica is often followed well by remedies for strengthening ligaments such as Rhus-tox (if the patient is better movement) or Bryonia (if the patient feels better being still). Symphytum or Calc-phos are also used to assist the mending of fractured or broken bones.

In comparison to the herbal tincture, which is often only available in one or two standard strengths, homeopathic remedies are available in a wide range of potencies. Interestingly, the potency increases with the degree of dilution, the opposite case to pharmacological drugs which become more powerful in larger quantities, until eventually toxic.

This is because homeopathic dilution creates an energy medicine that has a dynamic effect long after any physical material has been diluted out of the remedy—there is no actual pharmacological action of the remedy, a dilemma which confuses the layman, chemist and editors of entry-level encyclopaedias alike. This dynamic effect is certainly evident in the lab where homeopathic Arnica can be observed to upregulate genes involved in wound healing (epidermal growth factor, extracellular matrix, heparin sulphate, fibrillin, fibronectin).³

Furthermore, the process of extreme dilution makes toxic substances such as heavy metals, venoms and disease products safe for use in remedies that would otherwise be unavailable to the physician. This is evident in the vast materia medica of homeopathy.

The process of a transition to an energy medicine also broadens the range of symptoms that can be treated, extending them from the wholly physical to the mental sphere; nevertheless, this is still possible with the herbal tincture when given in drop doses. In this respect, we find that Arnica tincture treats the psychological trauma accompanying physical injury such as shock or grief.⁴

This Article appears in the 2021 eBook edition of Wholefoods And Common medicinal Herbs.

Disclaimer: this article is intended for the purpose of general education only, and is not a substitute for diagnosis, treatment advice, or a prescription that is given in a consultation with a qualified physician.

References:

1.    Felter, Lloyd. King’s American Dispensatory. 18th ed. Cincinnatti: Ohio Valley Co.; 1898.

2.    Carleton E. Homoeopathy In Medicine And Surgery. New Dehli: B. Jain Publishers; 2001.

3.    Marzotto M, Bonafini C, Olioso D, et al. Arnica montana Stimulates Extracellular Matrix Gene Expression in a Macrophage Cell Line Differentiated to Wound-Healing Phenotype. PloS One 2016;11:e0166340.

4.    Boericke W. Pocket Manual Of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, c. 1927. Delhi: Indian Books & Periodical Publishers; 2007.