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Health

Folk treatment for severe back pain

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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Folk medicine, which has existed much longer than traditional medicine, has already accumulated many useful recipes for various types of pain syndrome. And since complaints of back pain are an ancient problem that has become especially popular in our time due to the development of the Internet, many recipes are supplemented and improved to become available to a wide range of patients.

Among the variety of means and methods for combating intense pain in the back and lumbar region, warming procedures are especially popular, because it has long been known that under the influence of heat the body relaxes, and blood circulation and metabolism are activated, which helps reduce the intensity of the pain syndrome. In this case, warming can be carried out using various methods:

Dry compresses

  • You can fill a linen bag with sand heated in the oven and apply it to the sore spot. It is best to do this lying on your stomach, relaxed. Keep the compress until the pain subsides. Instead of sand, you can use clay (make a flat cake out of it and apply it warm to the pain site) or table salt.
  • Another effective recipe for lower back pain. You need to take a wide scarf or a folded kerchief made of natural wool (preferably sheep wool, but you can take any other, the main thing is that it is a natural material). Dip the fabric in a saline solution prepared from 2 tablespoons of salt and a liter of water, and leave for half an hour so that the wool is well saturated with salt. After this, wring out the peculiar healing belt and dry it like regular underwear. Wrap the dry prepared fabric around the waist and wear the belt for several days (severe chronic pain usually goes away within a week, acute pain - within a couple of days), removing it only for water hygiene or medical procedures.

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Compresses based on healthy products

  • One of the most popular is a cabbage-honey compress, which can be used for pain in various locations. To prepare it, heat up some honey in a water bath, add an equal amount of vinegar to it and apply the mixture warm in a thin layer to a large cabbage leaf. Place the prepared leaf on the sore spot and fix it with woolen cloth, which will additionally insulate the sore spot. The compress is applied for 1-2 hours or more (it is especially good to use it at night).
  • The second most popular is a compress made from horseradish root and leaves. Grind the root of the plant together with the leaves using a meat grinder and slightly dilute the resulting gruel with camphor oil or sour cream, which will reduce the burning sensation. Place the mixture on a cotton cloth and fix it on the sore spot. Put a hot water bottle on top for warmth. Keep the compress on the body for 2-3 minutes, then replace the mixture with regular horseradish leaves, put a warm cloth on top of them and go to bed to rest for at least a quarter of an hour.
  • The simplest recipe involves applying burdock leaves to the sore spot, which should be secured to the body with the same woolen shawl or scarf. This recipe can be improved by first dipping the leaves in a warm mixture of water and vinegar. But in this case, it is recommended to lubricate the skin at the site of the compress with vegetable oil and leave the compress overnight, after which the sore spot must be wiped with a damp, warm cloth.
  • This remedy is quite harsh, so it should not be applied to the naked body, but to a thin natural fabric. Grate the washed beetroot on the smallest grater. Squeeze out the juice, and use the pulp for a compress, adding 1 tbsp. of kerosene to it. Apply the compress overnight, covering it with a film and woolen fabric on top. Usually, one procedure is enough to significantly reduce the pain syndrome.

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Warm baths

Warm baths themselves help reduce pain, but if you add plant extracts to the bath water, the benefits will be much greater, because herbal treatments occupy an honorable place in folk medicine. For baths, you can prepare decoctions and infusions of the following plants:

  • Chamomile flowers and grass (prepare a strong infusion, strain and pour into fairly hot, but not scalding, bath water),
  • Birch shoots and catkins (pour boiling water over the raw material and keep it in a water bath for a quarter of an hour, then strain and pour into the bath),
  • Pine needles (boil pine branches for 10 minutes over low heat, strain the mixture and use as directed),
  • Mint leaves and sprigs (need to be boiled for 15-20 minutes),
  • Horse chestnut fruits (grind and boil until a rich consistency is obtained).

Alternatively, if you can't find suitable plant material, you can use mustard powder (150-200 g per bath), which is simply dissolved in hot water. After the bath, it is better to lie down in a warm bed or at least wrap the sore spot warmly.

All kinds of rubbing with medicinal tinctures and ointments are also considered to be unique warming procedures. Such natural rubbing can be purchased at a pharmacy (tincture of burdock, dandelion, eucalyptus, Adam's root, the drug "Bishofite", "Triple Cologne") or prepared independently.

For example, "Triple Cologne" is often used for back pain. True, this remedy is ineffective for severe pain, but if you add other healing components, the effect will be much more noticeable. So, for a large bottle of cologne, it is recommended to add 2 bottles of iodine and valerian tincture. Pour the mixture into a dark glass container and add 5 pods of red hot pepper. The remedy should be infused for at least a day, after which it is used to lubricate the lower back or draw a mesh on it.

For rubbing, you can also use a homemade ointment made from any cosmetic cream (for example, baby cream) or Vaseline and mustard and red pepper powders. Mix the ingredients in proportions so that when rubbed into the skin, you feel a slight burning sensation and warmth.

You can also insist on the budget pharmacy drug "Bishofite" nodes of the plant golden mustache and use the composition for active rubbing of the sore spot.

By the way, this medicinal plant is quite popular in the treatment of spinal pain and is used in various recipes. For example, juice can be squeezed from the stems and leaves of the plant, and the remaining pulp can be ground into a gruel. For 3 parts of prepared plant material, take 1 part of any cream, mix well and apply with massage movements to the sore spot 2 times a day.

For recurrent back pain, golden mustache is used in the form of compresses. For this, an alcohol tincture of the plant is suitable, in which a cloth is moistened and applied to the back. Compresses should be applied twice a day, covered with film and a warm scarf.

If the pain is caused by inflammation of the joints of the spine, an oil emulsion of golden mustache will be more effective. Crushed raw materials (twigs with knots) are poured with vegetable oil in a ratio of 1 to 2 and placed in the oven for 7 hours. The temperature in the oven should not exceed 30 degrees. The oil should be applied to the skin along the spine and rubbed in lightly.

Ginger ointment helps well with muscle pain due to muscle strain or overexertion. To prepare it, grind the ginger root well in a blender. Add eucalyptus oil to the resulting gruel and mix thoroughly. Apply a thin layer of ointment to the sore area 2-3 times a day. This treatment helps reduce pain and relieve tissue swelling.

If you can't find anything suitable at home, you can use regular mustard plasters to treat back and lower back pain, which have a warming and irritating effect, due to which the pain goes away quite quickly. For severe pain, we will improve the recipe. Add a Furacilin tablet crushed into powder and 1 tbsp. of liquid honey to the water in which we will soak the mustard plasters (1/4 cup). The duration of the procedure depends on the patient's sensitivity threshold, but you will have to endure the burning sensation for a while, after which relief comes.

Once the mustard plasters are removed, wipe the skin with a damp, warm cloth and lubricate it with baby cream, then wrap it well.

There are many such recipes that help in the fight against back pain, but if the pain is very strong, you should not expect quick relief from them. It makes sense to use folk remedies in combination with drug therapy.

In addition, treatment of severe back pain should be started after diagnostics and an accurate diagnosis have been made. Otherwise, it can only bring disappointment. So, with inflammatory pathologies of internal organs, which are characterized by reflected pain in the back: half the shoulder blade, in the shoulder, in the lower back, rubbing the back and compresses simply will not bring relief, and hot baths can even be harmful.

In case of pyelonephritis, even heat on the lower back can cause harm, while renal colic is relieved by applying a heating pad to the lower back and a warm bath. In case of oncology and infectious diseases, procedures aimed at activating blood circulation are generally undesirable, because they contribute to the spread of metastases and pathogens throughout the body. Therefore, without knowing the exact cause of severe back pain, which is most often associated with serious diseases, it is easy to harm yourself.

Before using any of the folk recipes, especially if we are talking about warming and massage procedures, you must consult a doctor.

Homeopathy

Whatever they say about homeopathy, the number of fans of natural treatment is growing every year. And even if the positive result from taking homeopathic remedies is based only on the belief that they will help, but it brings relief and recovery to a person, then these methods also have the right to exist. Especially considering the fact that homeopathic medicines have significantly fewer contraindications and side effects than the brainchildren of the pharmaceutical industry.

What can homeopathy offer us to combat severe back and lower back pain? First, let's talk about internal medications that have a systemic healing effect on the body, activating its internal forces:

  • Arnica. It is recommended to take the medicine internally for rheumatic pains and diseases of internal organs, due to which reflected pains in the back appear. The same drug helps with traumatic injuries of the spine and back.
  • Bryonia is prescribed for back pain that restricts movement, when the symptom intensifies with any movement.
  • On the contrary, rhus toxicodendron is prescribed to those who feel better from movement, but the patient’s condition worsens with physical exertion, fatigue and hypothermia.
  • Hypericum helps with pain in the sacrum and coccyx, as well as with injuries to nerve fibers, including their compression (radicular syndrome).
  • For pulsating pain in the lower back, radiating to the leg (schialgia), the drug Agaricus is indicated.
  • Kalium iodatum helps to cope with the same problems, as well as with pain syndrome that occurs at night and in the morning.
  • In case of acute back pain, taking mineral homeopathic remedies (Calcium and Magnesium) gives a good effect. The latter drug also helps to relieve painful muscle spasms.
  • And finally, in case of psychogenic pain and neurological symptoms arising from stress and anxiety, Coloncytum has a positive effect.

So far we have talked about single-component homeopathic remedies, which homeopaths prescribe in combination with constitutional preparations. But today there are also combined remedies that have a more intense and diverse effect, which helps not only relieve back pain, but also treat its cause:

  • Drops Rus toxicodendron Oligoplex produced in Germany.

The composition of the drug contains:

  • Rhus toxicodendron, which has a positive effect on bone, muscle, cartilage and connective tissue, eliminating rheumatic pain that forces a person to look for a position in which they at least subside a little,
  • Bryonia, which helps with cramping pains,
  • Mercury chloride, effective in inflammatory processes (helps with pain caused by pyelonephritis and renal colic),
  • Wintergreen oil, used for burning pain in the lumbar region and kidneys,
  • White willow extract, which relieves inflammation and helps with various pain syndromes.

For acute back pain, the drug is recommended to be taken up to 6 times a day, for chronic symptoms - 1-3 times a day. A single dose, unless otherwise prescribed by the doctor, is 5 drops.

The drug contains alcohol, so it is not prescribed to children under 12 years of age, patients with serious kidney diseases, people with alcohol dependence, and during pregnancy and breastfeeding, taking the drug is possible only after consultation with a doctor.

Side effects of the drug develop very rarely and are presented in the form of minor discomfort in the abdomen or skin reactions against the background of increased sensitivity to the components of the drug. Increased salivation against the background of taking the drug is considered an alarming symptom and requires discontinuing the drug.

  • Berberis Oligoplex drops made in Germany.

This drug helps remove harmful substances from diseased tissues and thus optimizes the effect of the previous drug, so they are often prescribed in combination.

Composition of the homeopathic complex:

  • Barberry is a plant that is effective against rheumatic pain, sacral lesions, and lumbago. It also helps with urinary tract diseases accompanied by stabbing pains in the back and lower back.
  • Wormwood is an herb used to treat gout and rheumatic pain in the lower back.
  • Autumn immortelle – helps with muscle and joint damage, touching which causes severe pain to the patient.
  • Gentian (root) – reduces acute pain in the stomach (stabbing pain) and spastic muscle pain.
  • Cudweed is a herb used to treat rheumatism and sciatic neuralgia.
  • Ledum also helps with inflammatory joint pain.
  • The vomit nut (seeds) helps with spastic pain in the muscles, stomach, urinary tract, burning pain in the back, and referred pain.
  • Turpentine oil, the action of which we have already discussed.

Contraindications and side effects of the drugs are similar. Increased urine and sweating, especially in the first days of taking the drug, are considered normal, as they help cleanse the body of toxins.

  • Ledum Oligoplex drops made in Germany.

This homeopathic remedy is effective for intense aching back pain that worsens due to bad weather conditions. It contains only 2 components:

  • Sodium nitrate, used for colds, viral diseases and inflammatory processes caused by hypothermia.
  • Rhododendron is a plant used to treat pain caused by rheumatism and nerve damage. It has a positive effect on the kidneys, so it can be used to treat pyelonephritis, which is characterized by reflected pain in the lower back.

A feature of homeopathic preparations is the exacerbation of diseases in the first days of treatment, so you should not immediately draw conclusions about the harm or ineffectiveness of such remedies. Considering that homeopathic treatment is based on treating like with like, the body needs time to activate its forces to fight the disease, and the drugs only give an impetus, a kind of signal to action.

In homeopathy, as in traditional medicine, there are remedies for systemic and local treatment. Preparations used externally are usually produced in the form of ointments. For severe back pain, you can use the healing properties of the following preparations:

  • Arnica ointment based on the infusion of flowers of this medicinal plant is used to relieve pain and inflammation in various back injuries (including muscle and tendon strains), accompanied by tissue swelling and severe pain. The drug shows a good analgesic effect, positively influencing not only the muscles, but also the connective tissue of the joints. Therefore, it is successfully used in the treatment of arthritis and synovitis.

It is recommended to use the ointment 2 times a day, applying a thin layer to the sore spot and lightly rubbing it into the skin. The course of treatment for severe pain is usually 5-7 days.

The drug is not used to treat infants, patients with hypersensitivity to the components of the ointment and weeping wounds on the body. The ointment should not be applied to areas of the skin that have wounds, scratches, inflammation.

Side effects of the drug in the form of hypersensitivity reactions occur rarely, but with frequent use of the ointment, a feeling of dry skin may appear, and with prolonged use there is a risk of developing foci of vesicular dermatitis.

  • Homeopathic ointment "Ziel T" of the German company Heel is a drug often prescribed for spinal pain caused by inflammatory-degenerative changes in the spine, bone tissue lesions. This is a multi-component remedy, popular for osteochondrosis of the spine due to its chondroprotective and analgesic properties.

If a person suffers from severe back pain, the ointment is used 4-5 times a day. It can be applied to the skin and rubbed in with gentle movements or applied under a bandage.

The drug has only one contraindication - hypersensitivity to at least one of its components. During pregnancy, the drug is used with caution after consultation with a gynecologist. Of the side effects of the ointment, complaints were only about allergic reactions.

In acute forms of the disease, the therapeutic effect of the ointment is felt even in the case of monotherapy with the drug, but in case of chronic severe pain, this external remedy is best used as part of a complex therapy, including oral administration of medications.

  • Traumeel C ointment from the German company Heel acts as an anesthetic and relieves inflammation, promoting local immunity and tissue regeneration. But this drug is more effective if the pain syndrome is caused by damage to soft tissues: muscles, nerves, cartilage, ligaments, etc.

The drug is used for rubbing the skin over the affected area, compresses, applications 2-3 times a day for a course of up to 4 weeks.

The ointment is not used for leukemia, tuberculosis, HIV infection, multiple sclerosis and increased sensitivity of the body to this homeopathic remedy. Side effects from its use are limited to mild allergic reactions.

Like the previous drug, Traumeel shows high efficiency in mild and moderate pain syndromes, and in case of severe pain it should be used together with other drugs.

In order for homeopathic treatment of severe back pain to be effective, faith alone is not enough; it is important that both diagnostics and therapy of the pathology associated with the pain are carried out by specialists. That is, before going to a homeopath, whose choice also affects the results of treatment (alas, there are now no fewer charlatans than experts in their field), you need to undergo an examination at a medical institution, where an accurate diagnosis will be made. And the treating homeopathic doctor will only need to tell about the nature of the pain, accompanying symptoms, reasons for the increase and decrease of the pain syndrome (heat-cold, movement-rest, etc.).

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