Native to Europe and Asia, Comfrey has been cultivated as a healing herb since around 400BC. Its name derives from the Latin ‘confere’, meaning ‘to bring together’, this reflects early traditional uses of the plant by Greeks and Romans to heal wounds and broken bones.
Comfrey is considered the remedy par excellence for healing damage to muscles and ligaments. Used for sprains, fractures, torn ligaments, crush injuries (eg. closing a finger in a door), bruises and non-infected wounds, the herb will heal tissues in record time and prevent the formation of scar tissue.
Comfrey’s fabulous actions are due to a substance called allantoin, found in the root and leaf of the comfrey plant. Allantoin occurs naturally in the body and has the remarkable ability to stimulate cell growth in connective tissue (muscles and ligaments), bone and cartilage. In addition, allantoin diffuses easily through the tissues enabling its healing effects to penetrate deeper. This means injuries heal more quickly and with less chance of scar tissue forming. It’s effectiveness in reducing swelling and bruising has been demonstrated in both pharmacological studies and clinical trials.
Comfrey has a regulating effect on the growth of skin cells. It is useful for chronic skin disease, especially psoriasis, where its action on the skin cells appears to slow down the rate of growth, having a normalising, balancing action.
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