Comfrey is an amazing, healing herb that never ceases to amaze me! Once you have learned about comfrey, you will want to keep this powerful plant on hand for your every need. Only a few years ago, I, like most people had never heard of this herb with its interesting name. But after reading of its amazing healing properties and many success stories, I was hooked. Now we grow many comfrey plants on our farm. We use the dried leaves to make salves, tinctures and herbal preparations.
What Is Comfrey?
Comfrey is a green, leafy plant that grows easily and spreads by its roots. There is a sterile variety that doesn’t spread, but most comfrey plants proliferate rapidly. Comfrey leaves and roots have the same medicinal benefits and properties, but the root is stronger and more potent. However, since the leaves are more readily available we use them the most.
Benefits of Comfrey
Comfrey is best known for how it speeds healing and helps regrow cells quickly. This herb works deeply and effectively to bring quick healing to injuries, wounds, sprains, broken bones, damaged tissues, burns, varicose veins, scars, and even ulcers. Comfrey’s main component is called allantoin which helps proliferate cells, making them grow faster. One of comfrey’s nicknames is “knitbone” because of how it can help knit bones back together! Comfrey also has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties.
How Do I Use Comfrey?
There are many ways to use and apply comfrey including soaks, salves, poultices, and tinctures. To make a soak, brew a strong comfrey tea and submerge the affected area. If the area cannot be soaked, dip wash cloths into the tea and apply. Comfrey salve is another great option and can be applied to cuts, scrapes, burns, and wounds as well as deeper injuries. Disinfect the affected area and apply the salve as often as needed. To make a poultice, blend together comfrey leaf or root with water or oil to make a paste. Spread the paste onto a paper towel or cloth and apply to the affected area. Change the poultice every few hours.
Can I Eat It?
For the purposes of this post, we recommend using comfrey externally. Taking comfrey internally is a controversial topic because in certain studies it has been seen to be toxic to the liver. However, these studies are most often done by giving a specific part of the plant, pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), to rats. In addition, the doses and species of comfrey plants were not consistent between studies. It is important to take plants in their whole form and not to isolate their components as the body often processes isolated components differently and more negatively. If taken internally, comfrey should be consumed in moderate amounts. Our family feels comfortable taking it internally, but we recommend others do their own research and know the pros and cons before consuming.
Comfrey Stories
One day several years ago, one of my brothers had an accident with a four-wheeler. Without rolling over him, the back tires spun on top of his leg rubbing off the skin from a large area of his shin. After we disinfected the wound, I went to our herb garden and harvested fresh comfrey leaves to make a strong tea. Since his leg could not be easily soaked, I used wash cloths to apply the soak to the area. We also applied comfrey salve. Because the soak was painful to the open wound, a poultice would have been a good alternative. The method doesn’t really matter as long as the wound is being treated with comfrey. My brother’s leg healed up nicely, and we credit the comfrey for its aid in the healing process.
When our dad had a serious log splitter injury and severely damaged his finger requiring surgery, we used our Complete Tissue Salve during his recovery. This salve contains comfrey root as well as other beneficial antispasmodic, pain relieving and healing herbs. His injury healed very well, and we attribute his amazing recovery to herbs like comfrey.
Be Your Own Doctor Stories
We have learned a lot from the book, Be Your Own Doctor by Rachel Weaver. It gives practical ways to use common herbs and many stories of how people have used herbs and simple home remedies to address common ailments and injuries. One of the chapters in Be Your Own Doctor addresses comfrey. There are quite a few success stories about how people used comfrey to aid healing.
Client Testimonials
Nothing speaks louder than firsthand experience. We can learn the benefits of an herb, but hearing how it has worked in various situations can be even more helpful. One of our clients told us that he used our comfrey salve faithfully following his shoulder surgery. He was so impressed that after just a few weeks he didn’t have any scarring at all. Another client gave us this testimonial.
“A few months ago, my right shoulder began to speak to me with a throbbing pain. It was recommended that I apply Comfrey Salve to the area and to my surprise the pain stopped. Shortly thereafter, I had a pulsating pain in my right wrist, so I applied the Comfrey Salve, and the pain vanished in less than five minutes. I am sold on this salve! It works efficiently and quickly and it sure beats taking pain relievers!”
Grow Your Own
There’s nothing like growing your own herbs to use for your needs. Why not grow your own comfrey? We have enjoyed buying live herb plants in the mail from Companion Plants and The Grower’s Exchange. When planting, make sure to choose a spot where it can spread, or choose the sterile variety. We like ours to spread so that we have plenty and can harvest some of the roots without pulling up all of our plants.
Now that you know about this amazing, healing herb, it’s time to try it yourself! Keep it on hand whether as a salve, tincture or powdered herb and see how well it works for everyday ailments and injuries.
~Hannah
