Columbus Drug Treatment: Herbal Osteo Arthritis Treatments

Willow Bark

Willow bark is the granddaddy of aspirin and many other arthritis medicines. During the first century the Greek physician Dioscorides employed it to relieve inflammation.

Native American healers were using it long before Columbus landed. A German pharmacologist isolated the active ingredient in 1828 and called it salicin. Ten years later this compound was renamed salicylic acid. In 1899 the Bayer Company began marketing a modified form call acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin. This miracle medicine has been a mainstay in the treatment of arthritis ever since.

It is possible to buy willow bark tea in most health food store. It would require you, though, to consume an unrealistic amount (more than 10 cups) to equal the pain-relieving power of 2 aspirin tablets.

Salcicin or salicylic acid is also available in pill form. Do not assume that this natural salicylate will be any easier on your stomach than aspirin. People who relied on salicylic acid to relieve their rheumatism in the 1850s compared this remedy to “having fire ants in the stomach.”

Stinging Nettle

Many people relieve their arthritis pain by grasping this plant with a glove (as is stings your bare hand) and then rubbing the juice on their stiff and swollen joints. This is called urtication and it can subside swelling within minutes. You can also steam the fresh leaves and eat them as a vegetable. The stingers are no longer a problem once they are cooked.

Stinging nettles can be found almost anywhere in the country, but you may need a botanist to help you identify this weed. Be careful collecting it too, as the nettles can be quite painful if you are careless.

Another unique sting is Apitherapy. It is the use of honeybee stings for arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Vermont beekeeper Charles Mraz has treated people for more than 60 years with amazing results.

Oral formulations of stinging nettle are very popular in Germany for prostate problems. They are also used for allergy symptoms and arthritis. Experiments have shown that stinging nettle has significant anti-inflammatory activity. One clinical stuffy using a dried powdered extract enabled patients with painful arthritis of the knee to reduce their NSAID doses by 50%.

Researcher in the department of clinical pharmacology in Frankfurt and the Department of Pharmaceutical Biology in Dusseldorf, Germany, studied a stinging nettle “stew” together with the arthritis drug Voltaren. They sought patients with an acute flare-up of chronic arthritis. One group got a standard dose of Voltaren, 200 mg, the other group received 50 mg of Voltaren together with 50 grams of stewed stinging nettle.

C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation, improved significantly in both groups. There was also an impressive decrease in joint pain and stiffness in the 2 groups, suggesting that stinging nettle contributes substantially to the anti-inflammatory process.

Not surprisingly, some of the patients in the group taking 200 mg of Voltaren experience stomach pain and diarrhea. Gas and bloating were the only reported side effects for a small number in the other group. This herb should not be irritating to the digestive tract.

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