When I was asked to write about Nature’s First Aid, straight away I thought about using poultices and compresses. The beauty of a poultice is that it can isolate the problem and draw it out via the skin without disturbing the elimination organs of the body. Compresses, on the other hand, break up congestion and disperse it via the bloodstream.

A poultice is the application of crushed or grated vegetable or herb matter onto the skin. This can be vegetables such as carrot, potato, onion and cabbage as well as a variety of herbs including slippery elm and charcoal. The purpose of a poultice is to isolate an infection and draw out the poisons. You can use it on bruising, boils, abscesses, sprains, inflammation especially from an operation, infection or arthritis.

Recently a customer came into our practice and showed me her leg that she had hit on the sharp edge of a table leg. Her leg had broken open and then the area had sealed over with a dark scab. All around the area it was red and inflamed. I told her to pick some plantain leaves and crush them with a meat tenderiser or other means. Then put the wet mushed herb in between some gauze and apply to the whole area. Then cover the area in plastic wrap to keep it moist and cover with a bandage to keep it in place. Keep the poultice wrapped overnight and then change it the next morning with a fresh poultice. The plantain poultice will draw out the infection and clean up the scab. She rang me a week later and told me after a week it had completely healed up.  I have seen plantain clean up old wounds that are years old and it is a very common weed to find.

Another poultice example is when a lady came in for a consultation regarding her knee that was swollen and painful after an operation. I went out into the garden and collected a handful of comfrey leaves which I mashed into a paste. The mashed comfrey was then wrapped into a Chux cloth and then applied to her whole knee. Then the knee and poultice were wrapped with clingwrap and covered with a bandage to hold in place. Very quickly she got relief from the constant pain. I sent her home with a bag of leaves and instructions. The next time I saw her she couldn’t stop talking about the relief comfrey gave her and how it helped the inflammation settle down.

A compress can be used for conditions like mastitis, which is common in breastfeeding women. To make the compress, boil a teaspoon of dried Inkweed (Phytolacca octandra) in 2/3rd cup of water in a covered saucepan for ten minutes. Add 1 teaspoon ginger powder to the saucepan and leave for another five minutes then remove from heat. Filter this liquid into a clean bowl to remove the herbs. When the liquid has cooled to a warm temperature, soak a clean cloth into the warm fluid and apply to the inflamed breast. You can keep the compress warm by applying a hot pack over it. This will give quick relief as the compress and heat moves the infection away via the lymph glands.