Old Wives' Tales About Remedies to Heal Bruising, Debunked!


The funny thing about old wives' tales is that sometimes they end up being true.  After all, it wasn't so long ago, that we didn't know how good things like blueberries and apple cider vinegar were for us. However, the converse is also true, and you'll discover that there are a lot of old wives tales out there that get bantered around as fact, especially when we are talking about natural conditions like bruising.  Bruises last different lengths of time for everyone, and it is very easy to believe that someone has a miracle cure for bruising, when in fact it might just be a great immune system.  Take the time necessary to weed out any of these supposed treatments that might have been referred to you as the best bruise treatment ever.  You may just find that there are no silver bullets.

Bruise Massage

While massaging the bruise can break up the blood clot, massaging the bruise is only going soothe the area if done gently or aggravate the area if done too roughly.  While a massage can be very gentle, you'll find that it stimulates the flow of blood to the area.  When you are dealing with broken blood vessels, this is not something that you want to encourage at this point.   If you do end up wanting to massage the area, do it very gently and with the expectation that you may be making the discoloration worse.

Pepper

Old wives' tales tell us that pepper can actually make the blood leave the area of a bruise.  Pepper may have substances in it that can dim the pain a little bit, but the truth of the matter is that sprinkling pepper on your bruise is just going to make a mess.  There are other remedies that do the same thing and do it much better, so leave the pepper in the spice cabinet.

Baking Soda

We are now getting to remedies that may help out a little bit, but probably not nearly as well as people say.  Baking soda may be very helpful when you're trying to calm down irritated (as in burned) skin, and it might actually soothe part of the inflammation out, but the truth of the matter is that it will not help with a bruise that is overly dark, and it is not going to make the bruise heal any faster.

Raw Meat

We've all heard this one, and a lot of us have seen, or perhaps we have even experienced, but raw meat, no matter how expensive the cut, is unable to help you cure the bruise.  I've listened to plenty of discussions over what variety of meat is best suited for the job, and the simple fact is that they are all similar.  The only benefit for putting raw meat against a bruise is that it presumably just came out of the freezer, and the coldness may help reduce swelling.  The meat should be on your dinner plate, not on a bruise.

Take some time to figure out which, if any, of these old wives' tales have the potential to be helpful to you, and which ones are just a lot of baloney.  Find a cure that really delivers, and leave these old, unproved cures alone.

About the author: 

Carolyn Cooper is recognized as a well known expert on bruising causes through a combination of her educational experience in nutrition and her real life expertise with nutritional supplements for athletes, ranging from children to the professional ranks. You can get a free Special Report on bruising causes and see what she's done to get you beyond the nightmares of easy bruising and help you prevent bruising altogether.