Hello Again:

Last time we talked about some of the misinformation that’s out there about the healing capacity of vitamin E.  We decided that even though there are a lot of good things that vitamin E does for our body, healing bruises is not one of them.  Today I think that we’ll look at some of the other so-called cures for bruising that we run across almost every day, and give them a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down”.

We’ve all heard stories of how old timey, country remedies have brought about miracle cures that baffle the medical profession.  Some of these natural cures that have been passed down from one generation to the next end up having beneficial qualities for us, but unfortunately, there are a whole lot more of them that are practically useless.  We’ll touch on some of the more common ones to see if they hold any promise for our easy bruising.

The first one to examine deals with massaging a bruise.  This one is sort of like a two-edged sword.  Massage can help break up the blood coagulation below the skin which constitutes a bruise, but it has to be done very carefully.  Too much pressure will increase the blood flow to the area, which can actually worsen the situation by increasing the amount of the blood available to pool beneath the skin.

Another claim is that black pepper sprinkled over a bruise will help make the bruise fade away.  I can find nothing to indicate that sprinkling black pepper is going to do anything for your bruise other than make a mess.  I suggest leaving the pepper in the spice rack.

Baking soda is another ingredient from the kitchen that is supposed to help quickly fade away a bruise.  Making a paste of baking soda and cool water and placing that on inflamed skin (as in burned) can help soothe that area, but it is highly unlikely that it will cause the discoloration of a bruise to significantly lessen or to cause the bruise to heal any quicker.

We’ve all seen or read about the country wisdom of putting a steak on a black eye.  Although a black eye is called that because of the bruising, the only help a piece of raw meat is going have is it may reduce immediate swelling if the meat is cold, not because it’s meat, and it’s not going to do anything to make the bruise go away.  Save your meat for the grill.

What we’ve just seen is that these old wives’ tales may have a little bit of truth in them, but rarely are they going to make a difference in healing your bruises.  My biassed opinion is to stick with something that actually works like Bruises Be Banned if you really want to reduce or prevent bruising.

Next time I think we’ll review what really makes up a bruise.

Talk again soon,

CC