Comfrey is a deceptively potent little perennial herb that thrives in the moist grasslands of countries in the Northern Hemisphere. This dynamic plant has many names and is not to be confused with Cynoglossum virginianum, which is wild comfrey. Its common names include slippery root, black-wort, radix consolidate, bruise-wort, boneset, and knitbone, which tell us a whole lot more than any of its botanical labels. As we will see, Comfrey soothes and penetrates to the bone.
Comfrey’s Ancient Roots
The earliest recorded use of comfrey is in ‘De Materia Medica’ by Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, Pedanius Dioscorides a.k.a. the Father of Pharmacy. He was one of the first researchers to explore the medicinal uses from all three ‘kingdoms of the natural world’; animal, vegetable, and mineral. His five-volume reference works were used for 1, 500 years. Regarding comfrey, Dioscorides wrote; ‘The roots below are black on the outside and white and slimy on the inside…Used as a compress they also seal fresh wounds. They have a joining together effect…They act as a cataplasm in the case of inflammation, especially in the anal area.’
Comfrey Today
Thanks to clinical testing and phytotherapy research, comfrey has proven effective as a wound-healer especially for sprains of any sort. Close on the heels of that is comfrey’s soothing and anti-inflammatory properties for osteoarthritic conditions, gout, thrombophlebitis, back, and joint pain.
’Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis’, which is a handbook of pharmaceutical practice (1978) recommends comfrey for bone fractures, promotion of callus formation, neuralgia after fractures, strains, contusions, tenosynovitis and inflammation of a muscle, haematoma, thrombosis, arthritis, and wounds that heal badly.
Oral intake of comfrey is not recommended today due to the amounts of PA (Pyrrolizidine alkaloids) present in certain strains of comfrey. For those reasons, today’s topical creams, balms, and ointments are made from specific comfrey plants and have no PA’s at all.
Comfrey and Pharmacodynamics
The gifted formulator of the Supersalve range of topical balms, creams, and oils understands the working of Pharmacodynamics, namely the body’s biological response to what is introduced to the body. The bottom line is that the body ‘recognizes’ what is found in nature. Our cells ‘read the natural address code’ as it were and know precisely what to do with what’s coming in and where to send it. That is not the case with allopathic drugs and medications manufactured in laboratories using artificial or man-made replicas of nature’s brilliant apothecary.
Nature has truly quipped us well with the ability of Comfrey to ‘pull it all together’. Such a potent natural agent that knits bone makes it perfect in a topical cream such as the Supersalve Sports Rub. It just makes so much sense to keep a tube or two in the first-aid box at the office, at home, and certainly for a sports massage therapist.
Ingredients: Calendula, Camphor, Clove, Comfrey, Eucalyptus, Grapeseed Oil, Honey, Rosemary, St John’s Wort all nestled a Shea Butter base. With added African Potato and Organic Avocado, Supersalve Herbal Sports Rub is great to keep on hand for those body aches, pains, and sprains.
NB: All SUPERSALVE products are completely free from petrochemicals, parabens and phthalates, and are safe for the whole family, from babies to the elderly and everything in between!