A Word about Arnica Montana

It's a homeopathic medicine and is sold in pill form and gels. The pill form is an extremely small dosage and is typically used before surgery and such to reduce the amount of swelling and bruising that occur with the surgery. It can also be used to treat sore muscles, bruises, sprains and imflammation. The gel is also used to treat sprains, bruises etc.

Anyhoo - my neighbor swears by it. She has a sister who is a doula and she recommended that she take it before she delivered her last baby. She says that her recovery and healing time was much faster than the two previous babies. Recently I also saw an article in Runner's World about it. My ankle has been giving me a little grief when I run since I sprained it playing basketball in February and sometimes my arthritic knee aches a little after running. So I thought I would give it a shot. I have been taking it for about a week (I take about half the recommended dosage) and I'm going to say I notice a difference. I have even been running more and I have had only the slightest twinge in my ankle after one of my longer runs.

So I am just going to throw that out there for what it's worth and if you have an ache or sprain or whatever that you are not comfortable taking more ibuprofen - do a little research, see if it might work for you.

Also - speaking of running, writersblock is going to run the Disney marathon as a fund-raiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So if you can, donate a little money and support her as she runs! She'll blog all about her training and you can envy all the miles she has run. She will also send you a very gracious thank-you note!

Update: So I'm reading over this post and I realize that I sound like a spokesperson for arnica montana. I apologize for the length and excess information, but I have been really liking the results that I have seen so far from using it and I wanted to share. But I hate sharing if I don't pass on correct information and I sometimes go overboard! So that's what you get! :-P