Homeopathy for Garden Mishaps...

It is that time of year again when weekend warriors armed with pruning shears and trowels head to gardens of every sort. As a home gardener with 20 fruit trees, blueberries, rose gardens, succulent gardens and 11 active compost bins, I have suffered my share of garden injuries and have seen some unique injuries in my fellow gardeners. These are the essential homeopathic remedies you will need for a Homeopathic First Aid Kit for Gardeners:

Arnica montana 200c:

Arnica is the best remedy for injuries to soft tissue. It is especially useful for blunt force injuries to muscle and soft tissue that promise bruising. Arnica is also useful for blunt force injuries to the head (a simple fall, a rake smacking you in the head) and for muscle soreness after too much gardening. Yes there is such a thing as too much gardening. Many Health Food stores now carry the 200c potency from the homeopathic pharmacy Boiron; to me this is the potency to have on hand, as you will be able to use less medicine and have more dramatically positive results.

Ledum 30c:

Ledum is an important remedy for puncture wounds that are NOT hot to touch, but ‘cold damp’. This remedy is also useful in insect bites; again the site is not red and hot, but pale and cool to touch.

Hypericum perfoliatum 30c:

Hypericum is useful in injuries to nerves or for puncture wounds with shooting pains. The guiding symptom for using Hypericum successfully is the nature of the pain: a long shooting pain that follows the nerve pathway and can chronically act up in cold damp weather.  If you fall on your tailbone you might experience this kind of intense pain. If you pinch your fingers with a gardening tool and you cannot believe the intensity of the pain, Hypericum is certainly a remedy to consider.

Staphysagria 30c:

The genius of Staphysagria is in it’s usefulness for wound pain from a sharp incising object. I have found that it is the best remedy for an eye abrasion from a sharp leaved plant. Best known for eliminating the pain from surgical incisions, remember Staphysagria for ‘cutting pains’.

Colocynthis 30c:

You stooped and reached and used your body without good body mechanics and now your lower back has spasmed up. Just getting up from a chair is an ordeal. The muscle spasms in your lower back are preventing you from doing any more of what ever you were doing, so it is time to use some Colocynthis to relax those muscles and facilitate blood flow to injured tissues.

Ruta graveolens 30c:

So you went out and worked in the garden and overdid it and took some Arnica for your aching muscles and that helped, but you really overused your hand or your forearm or your wrist pulling weeds or cutting weeds by hand or using a hand trowel and those tendons are just aching and aching and aching. Ruta can help with that. In the future, it would be best to work with your whole body rather than strain a part.

Rhus toxicodendron 30c:

When: If you forgot to take Arnica after overexerting in the garden and the next day you can hardly get out of bed because all of your muscles are stiff with an accumulation of lactic acid (the metabolic byproduct of overexerting), then you need Rhus toxicodendron. Known as the ‘rusty gate’ remedy, Rhus toxicodendron is useful when you are locked up with stiff muscles that loosen only with use and then ache again with too much use.

Bryonia alba 30c:

So you are working in the garden and you misstep, your body goes one way and maybe your knee or your ankle go another way. This twisting of tendons and ligaments usually results in a sharp stabbing pain, worse from any movement. Bryonia to the rescue. The genius of Bryonia is it’s usefulness in sharp stabbing pains that make you want to immobilize the part that is injured. Another strong indication for using Bryonia is how irritable you may be feeling as you ‘protect’ your injury.

Symphytum officinalis 6c:

When: You broke something and that something was not the handle of your shovel. Darn. Your bone needs to heal and that deep ache is telling you just how deeply you have injured yourself. Homeopathic comfrey facilitates better bone regeneration and in the process silences the pain messenger. Take this remedy for one month if you do break a bone.

Always remember to use good common sense in caring for any injury  and seek appropriate medical attention if needed.

Other homeopathic remedies may be indicated in your situation and in your reaction to your injuries. That is the time to consult an experienced homeopath. Homeopathics can be used very successfully in conjunction with conventional trauma care and they can reduce your need for conventional painkillers with all their side effects. Our injuries become our ‘weak spots’ as we age, becoming the sites where we are most likely to re-injure ourselves or develop inflammatory disease processes like arthritis. Homeopathy can prevent that.

The garden is wonderful exercise and deeply regenerative therapy. The human eye can see more shades of green than any other color. And that green reduces blood pressure and stress hormones. Be safe. Be well. Remember what a precious paradise our garden can be.

First published 21 May 2012