HELP: Fell off 30 foot cliff, what herbal medicine to use?

A relative of mine took a great tumble down a large cliff. I haven't seen him yet but we suspect he's downplaying his symptoms some. I'll see him for Christmas and would like to bring some herbal medicines he can use to help with lingering pain and broken bones.

Black and blue all over, no broken ribs it seems so that's good. He broke two fingers.

What herbs are good for general wellbeing after a traumatic event like that?

I was thinking of making a comfrey salve. I've never made a salve before but my comfrey plant has some healthy leaves on it right now so I can give it a shot.

This might not be an answer to your original question but I just want to chime in out of a place of caring.

Falls at 30ft or higher have a 50% fatality rate as well as a high chance of serious injuries. If he has not been checked internally by a medical professional I would HIGHLY recommend doing so. Slow leaks can be deadly. If they get away with a few broken fingers and some bruising I would consider that a winter miracle and worth celebrating.

They are in my thoughts for a steady recovery!

Homeopathic remedies,   Arnica and Aconite both are for traumatic injuries.
I use the 30x or higher and take them as often as every 10 minutes or depending on the pain at least every hour.

Arnica oils as a topical work great as well.

Hi Rebecca,
I HIGHLY second what Timothy mentioned. A fall from that height should be checked by a medical professional for any serious injuries.

After that, I think you are on track with the comfrey. When I had surgey, I was told lots of protein, water, and vitamin C to help with healing. I would imagine if bones are involved to up the calcium as well.

Timothy Norton wrote:This might not be an answer to your original question but I just want to chime in out of a place of caring.

Falls at 30ft or higher have a 50% fatality rate as well as a high chance of serious injuries. If he has not been checked internally by a medical professional I would HIGHLY recommend doing so. Slow leaks can be deadly. If they get away with a few broken fingers and some bruising I would consider that a winter miracle and worth celebrating.

They are in my thoughts for a steady recovery!

He is getting medical care of course! Had some scans, I'm not sure the details on everything but I do know he got some scans immediately after it happened but he had to return home to get more. (He was in a foreign country)

Guess I should had mentioned that since some people do try and treat everything with only natural medicine and don't get professional help. I'm mostly just looking for some stuff I can gift for Christmas, whether he actually uses it or not is another matter

Assuming the shock will be over by then, the thing I want most when recovering from a big injury is home-cooked meals (and someone to wash the dishes after). Lots of vegetables, fish, and bone-based meals like a bone-in post rost with lots of juices and potatoes.  Things that can be easily reheated and/or frozen for later.  

Herbs are lovely but it's food that I find heals me the fastest (and we can put herbs in food - I tend to crave thyme and rosemary when recovering from injury)

If you make that comfrey salve (a wise move!), adding arnica oil and StJohn's wort oil will ramp up the healing properties, 10-fold - but if you add the arnica oil, don't use it on broken skin. Here's my recipe for Deep Intense:

1 - 1oz bottle herb pharm arnica oil* (https://www.herb-pharm.com/product/arnica-oil/)
2oz St Johns wort oil
2oz tallow, macadamia, jojoba, or sweet almond, double-infused with Comfrey*
1ml each of these essential oils: cassia cinnamon, camphor, clove, wintergreen, Peppermint, black pepper, ginger, cajeput
Combine into a dark bottle, & shake well, before use. If using tallow, you may need to roll the bottle in your hands a bit, to warm it.

To use it, just massage a few drops in, at a time, until you feel like you've got the coverage you need. It doesn't need to feel like you took a bath in it. Just enough to lubricate the skin, to comfortably massage it. Cover it with plastic wrap, and for the fastest, best results, add some heat - a hot water bottle, heating pad, hot rice bag - whatever works for you. Just don't make it TOO hot - just very comfortingly warm. I prefer doing it after a shower, just before bed, so it will stay on a good long time, & so it's a time when my body is ready to relax. But, sometimes, I'll put it on, getting ready for working out, or on my chores, too.
• or double Infuse oil with arnica, then Comfrey, & cayenne


In addition, Epsom salts baths will go a long way toward easing the aches he surely has.

Internally, I'd highly recommend Comfrey, St John's Wort, chamomile, & tulsi tea ( all together), to promote rest as well as healing, because we do tend to heal faster, as we rest.  I'd also stinging nettles & dandelion greens & root to the soups r.ranson suggested.

Glad he is getting professional help. In addition to comfrey, I love yarrow tea for moderate aches and pains, but it sounds more severe than anything I have tried it for. The plant not to be named on this forum, particularly at a 2:1 ratio of its painkilling component to its psychoactive component, has also helped a great deal for me with acute pain in joints and after a minor surgery.

Carla Burke wrote:Internally, I'd highly recommend Comfrey, St John's Wort, chamomile, & tulsi tea ( all together), to promote rest as well as healing, because we do tend to heal faster, as we rest.  I'd also stinging nettles & dandelion greens & root to the soups r.ranson suggested.

Thank you for the recipe and all the other details!

Is there any particular ratio to do with the tea? I'm looking for things I can get in my possession easily as ordering online at this point is risky but I can definitely make this tea blend!

I also found this arnica, St. John's Wort oil blend that I may have shipped directly to his place since I don't have time to get those things you mentioned shipped to me and make a salve!

Forgot the link to the oil:

https://mountainroseherbs.com/arnica-st-johns-herbal-oil

Rebecca Blake wrote:

Carla Burke wrote:Internally, I'd highly recommend Comfrey, St John's Wort, chamomile, & tulsi tea ( all together), to promote rest as well as healing, because we do tend to heal faster, as we rest.  I'd also stinging nettles & dandelion greens & root to the soups r.ranson suggested.

Thank you for the recipe and all the other details!

Is there any particular ratio to do with the tea? I'm looking for things I can get in my possession easily as ordering online at this point is risky but I can definitely make this tea blend!

I also found this arnica, St. John's Wort oil blend that I may have shipped directly to his place since I don't have time to get those things you mentioned shipped to me and make a salve!

You're more than welcome! Happy to help! I'd just do equal parts, by weight. It's easy to remember. And, the yarrow idea is good! It would be a great addition to the tea. The arnica/StJohn'sWort oil blend will be great.

Comfrey. Both as a tea for maybe a week and as a poultice for as long as needed. Or, you could make an infused oil of comfrey, which is a lot easier to apply often than a poultice.

Thank you everyone for your recommendations. I hope my good intentions actually get used!

This was a great opportunity to make my very first salve! I had been wanting to make a comfrey salve all year for my own medicine cabinet so this was a good kick in the butt to finally do it.

The consistency is a bit harder than I anticipated following one of the recipes I found on the BB page, oh well. We're in a warmer climate so perhaps harder than preferred isn't so bad.

Nothing fancy, but here's my batch :https://permies.com/p/2173780

It proved more difficult than I anticipated to pour salve into 1oz jars! But I'm happy to have those smaller jars for the first aid kit.

If you're hesitant to use comfrey internally due to the hepatotoxicity (I'd be, personally) plantain (Plantago major) also contains allantoin, without any pyrrolizidine alkaloids.