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Articles > The Arnica Question: Can Arnica be used internally & on open wounds?

The Arnica Question: Can Arnica be used internally & on open wounds?

Every now and again the question arises if it is safe to take Arnica internally. Some Health Authorities have issued cautionary statements in regards to these internal applications. The sensitivity of a small number of people towards this highly beneficial mountain plant (which is a rare allergic reaction towards plants from the Compositae family) and some people's tendency to overdose has unfortunately called the internal use of Arnica into question. Overdose symptoms after substantial internal doses include dizziness, diarrhoea, trembling, increased heart rate, cardiac rhythm disturbances and collapse.

Traditionally Arnica has been used both internally and externally. The world-famous German poet Goethe didnt want to be without it and wrote much of his outstanding literature with this little helper. One of the most influential European herbalists of the 20th century, Prof. Dr. Rudolf Weiss, hasnt witnessed a single case of Arnica sensitivity in decades of practice and has not received reports from colleagues either! This prompted him to say that the risk of allergic reactions towards Arnica is overstated.

Growing up in Switzerland, I learned that Arnica is still internally applied by mountaineers to prevent altitude sickness. Swiss herbalists and naturopaths continue to prescribe it as a circulatory stimulant and powerful anti-inflammatory. Recently the internal use of Arnica has been researched for the treatment of acute weakness of the heart and angina pectoris with promising results.

As stated by the famous Swiss medical doctor and herbalist Paracelsus in the 16th century: it is the dose that makes a medicine a medicine or a poison. The key is to keep the internal dose of Arnica at a maximum of 5-10 drops of Mother Tincture (1:10 v/w) three times a day. A Mother Tincture is the traditional base preparation for producing a homeopathic remedy and its internal application has not shown side effects that can potentially result from the overdosing of more concentrated modern extracts. Traditional preparations are known to be effective at low doses.

At ARTEMIS Herbal Medicine we incorporate the traditional Arnica Mother Tincture into our preparations and all dosage rules are observed. ARTEMIS Herbal Medicine has distributed these herbal remedies for many years we do not have any evidence of side effects from using low doses of Arnica. In fact Im convinced that the success of these traditional recipes especially in terms of analgesic and anti-inflammatory actions - are largely due to the healing actions of Arnica.

In recent years the external use of Arnica on open wounds has come under scrutiny as well. People sensitive towards plants of the Compositae (daisy) family can suffer from skin reactions when Arnica is applied to open wounds. Even though contact dermatitis is extremely rare, it has led to the warning that Arnica should not be used on open wounds at all. However I have supervised many cases where a herbal fresh-plant cream containing Arnica has shown to be beneficial in superficial open wounds & scars. I have used Arnica myself on open wounds many times and benefited from its antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing properties (e.g. when I sustained sprains with skin abrasions from falls in the mountains or when I hoped to heal a wound without scarring).

The ARTEMIS Herbal Medicine range is widely available to the general public. In order to avoid controversy I have chosen a cautious approach and have written on the label 'Do not use on open wounds' even though this does not reflect traditional uses.

Weiss R.F./Fintelmann V.: Lehrbuch der Phytotherapie. Hippokrates, Stuttgart 1997/8, p.163
2 ditto; Weiss R F. Herbal Medicine. Translated by A R Meuss from the Sixth German Edition of Lehrbuch der Phytotherapie, Beaconsfield Publishers, 2001:169/70.