While once a common remedy for everything from torn muscles and aches to sprains, poultices have for the most part lost their fashionable appeal with many westerners. A leg warmer may not be considered stylish anymore, but that doesn’t negate the fact that it keeps your leg warm. The same can be said of poultices; they remain unsurpassed in their effectiveness of treating sport-related injuries. Many Chinese martial arts traditions still heavily rely on using poultices, one of the main reasons they’re still readily available today.
There are four key points to keep in mind when using poultices:
1. Always take time to clean the area thoroughly before application.
2. Always allow an allotment of time when changing from one liniment or poultice to another. This allows the skin to breath and prevents any unnecessary interactions between the herbal ingredients of one product with another.
3. Never use poultices with or just after using any wet or dry heating sources, such as a sauna or heating pad, as this may increase the risk of a burn from overheating the skin.
4. In the event a rash develops, the poultice should be used less or discontinued.
Sinew Herbal Ice Poultice
There are very few poultices still recommended by physical therapists and physicians in the West, Sinew Herbal Ice being the main one.
Today, icing certain injuries is common practice. In fact, most probably couldn’t fathom icing actually making the injury worse. After all, text from professional sport-related medical guides to layman first aid instructions most always recommend icing down or applying ice packs to injuries such as contusions, sprains, and muscle pulls. However, icing an injury down may actually do more harm than good. Yes, ice can momentarily reduce inflammation. The problem is that it also increases the amount of blood and other fluids stagnating around the injured site and results in muscle and sinew contractions.
What ultimately happens is that the healing process is significantly slowed and the potential for serious injury significantly increases. Icing an injury has become ingrained as the primary responsive action mainly because the alternative is unknown to so many in the modern world. For centuries, martial arts masters and warrior monks have used a simple and highly effective poultice for their combat and physical training injuries - Sinew Herbal Ice.
Sinew Herbal Ice has a collection of cooling herbs that will not only reduce inflammation, but also disperse congealed fluids and blood. As far as acute first aid treatment for sprains, muscle pulls, contusions, and strains, Sinew Herbal Ice is often considered the most helpful and useful herbal treatment. Sinew Herbal Ice can even be effective in fracture injuries that are closed, meaning the bone did not penetrate the skin.
When Should Sinew Herbal Ice Poultice Be Used?
Sinew Herbal Ice can be used in most any acute injury where ice would normally be the standard treatment - simple closed fractures, sprains, strains, pulled muscles, and contusions.
How Should I Apply Sinew Herbal Ice Poultice?
You can follow the following steps to apply Sinew Herbal Ice over the injured area:
Step 1. Apply Sinew Herbal Ice to the affected area, coating the area in a thickness similar to how you’d frost a cake.
Step 2. Cover the area with gauze or a soft cloth.
Step 3. Wrap the area with a layer of rolled gauze.
Step 4. For extra support and to keep the poultice pressed firmly against the skin, you may cover the rolled gauze with an elastic bandage. Do be careful not to tightly compress the area. Compression will generally counteract the purpose of Sinew Herbal Ice by acting to decrease circulation and promote fluid stagnation. The bandage shouldn’t slip up and down, but if it’s so tight that it produces numbing, tingling, or redness to the area, then it’s too tight.
There may be cases where the above steps are not feasible, such as a shoulder injury where the area would be very difficult to wrap. In this case you’d use the following steps:
Step 1. Apply a much thinner layer of the poultice to the affected area, much like a paintbrush stroke.
Step 2. Cover the area with gauze pads.
Step 3. Secure the gauze pad to the skin with tape.
Sinew Injury Poultice
The Sinew Injury Poultice is mainly used for stage 3 or chronic sinew injuries. Many older fractures or sprains that do not have inflammation and swelling remaining, but still have residual stiffness and pain remaining can benefit from the Sinew Injury Poultice. It can also be very beneficial to promote healing in overly stretched ligaments, such as found in many ankle and wrist sprains.
The Sinew Injury Poultice differs from Sinew Herbal Ice in that it doesn’t contain the multitude of anti-inflammatory and cooling property herbs. The Sinew Injury Poultice has more of the warming herbs that are designed to significantly encourage circulation to the injured tissues, an especially useful effect if the joint has cold or damp weather pain. Keep in mind that this poultice shouldn’t be used if there are still signs of inflammation in the affected area and shouldn’t be applied atop any internal organ or on the head.
How Should I Apply Sinew Injury Poultice?
The Sinew Injury Poultice should be applied just as the Sinew Herbal Ice steps instruct. Some key points include the following:
* you may keep the Sinew Injury Poultice on for up to 24 hours
* it’s recommended that the poultice be applied for several alternating days to give the skin time to breathe (one day on, one day off, one day on, one day off, and so on)
* pattern may be repeated for up to two weeks
* if you’re unable to go about daily activities with the poultice on, then apply it at night and allow the skin to breathe during the daytime
What If I Have Sensitive Skin?
Everyone has different skin, some being more sensitive than others. For example, those with fair skin are often more prone to have sensitive skin. Poultices, especially the warming herb poultices, may cause a rash and itching. If a rash occurs, immediately wash the poultice from the skin and discontinue use.
