Natural pain relief.

[Luan Cartwright]

Hi everyone.

I slipped over at the park today on wet grass and sprained my wrist (I haven't had an x-ray as I don't want the radiation exposure) it's hurting quite a lot but I don't really want to take pharma pain medication. Does anyone have any advice on what may help with a sprain and the pain associated?

**edit**
I found info on this site. Even though it's for ankle sprains, I guess it would work for other sprains too

http://www.homeremedyhacks.com/18-home- ... ned-ankle/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Having an ice pack on it and keeping it elevated seems to be the best thing right now.

[Sara Dixon]

Ice and elevation for the first 24 hours. 15 minutes on,15-20 minutes off, as much as you can. After the first 24 hours, the ice loses effectiveness. Use heat to soothe the pain and bring blood flow to the area. Be careful with the injured limb, but don't stop using it altogether. Movement is important to keep it from creating scar tissue, but don't move it to the point of pain. After the acute injury stage of 3-5 days, massage can be helpful if it feels stiff or tightened.

[Luan Cartwright]

Great, thank you so much Sara, I appreciate that. I have been really precious with it, so it's good to know I can use it a little and that it won't make it worse.

I made a paste out of tumeric, ginger and black pepper with lime juice and put it on the swelling, which has helped ,and have a compression bandage on too. Will put the ice pack on again before I go to bed. Thanks again!

[Paul Cohen]

If you can't move your wrist properly, you've broken it. A broken wrist is extremely painful - at least that was my experience. It doesn't sound like you've broken yours.

The link Sara Dixon has provided gives plenty of natural remedies to consider.
It's good to hear you're already trying some, Luan. Thank you, Sara.

Let us know how things go from here, Luan, and what you learn. Speaking of which, do you know why this happened?

[Craig Hall]

Luan,

Sorry to hear about your injury.

Having played a lot of sport in my younger days, especially football, real football that is, Australian Rules Football, I received my share of soft tissue injuries. Sara is correct in saying immobilise, raise and ice the limb however ice should be applied for the first 72 hours, 20 minutes on then twenty minutes off and repeat the process. This should minimise the blood flow to the wrist thus preventing swelling. If you over use the wrist and / or put heat on it too early in the recovery stage you will cause your wrist to swell, thus causing more pain. You have done the right thing in applying a compression bandage.

Another thing I used to use on my ankles and knees, to reduce the swelling, was washing crystals or washing soda crystals. They are quite inexpensive and available from the supermarket. If the wrist is swollen, before going to bed put some of the crystals in a tea towel or hand towel, wrap the towel up and then wrap the towel around your wrist using a bandage. In the morning the swelling should be gone and the crystals should be hard as they have drawn the swelling out of your wrist. Sounds strange however i used to go through a couple of packets of washing crystals every footy season treating soft tissue injuries.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Craig Hall

[Luan Cartwright]

Hi Paul,

Im quite certain its not broken. I've had other fractures in the past and this isn't anything like them. I haven't had to take any med and its not aching or anything. My mum has been helping me a bit and she's a nurse (on a psychiatric ward) she doesn't think it's serious either. Just a bit swollen and painful.

It's interesting though. My younger brother broke his collarbone just a few weeks ago and had to have surgery. He'd been really nasty to me before that happened and I got angry and complained to my mum, saying "you've got such a storm coming with that boy" mum said to me, mockingly "is that a prophesy"?, I didn't think it was.

A few days later though, we had a huge storm and that's when my brother had his accident (riding his bike,drunk, during the storm). I confess I took some evil, vindictive satisfaction in his injury initially, justifying thinking that way with " you reap what you sow".

I was humbled and repentant of how I'd thought when I found out he actually needed surgery on his break and had revelation of how nasty I'd been myself, in my thoughts and self pity. I have reaped what I've sown in this injury I've recieved, no doubt. I absolutely deserve and need it. I've been struggling with self pity and vanity a lot, and this happening has really brought my focus back to the Lord. I've also been humbled by my brother's genuine sympathy toward me. I showed him my wrist and he offered me the sling he'd used for his injury!

Truly amazing how the Lord is awakening me. To say I'm grateful is a pitiful understatement, I don't know the right word for the gratitude I feel.

[Luan Cartwright]

Hi Craig, and thank you!

I was just about to go to sleep when I got your note, I've just finished with the ice pack for tonight.

I absolutely trust injury advice from an AFL player and I have some of those crystals you mentioned, so I'll give that a go.

Thank you very much, greatly appreciate you taking the time to give me advice.

Have a good evening, God bless you.