Using comfrey for unusual foot problems

Comfrey officianalis

Comfrey, with it's large leaves, abundant mucilage and allantoin,and high concentrations of calcium, has been used for centuries to speed the mending of broken bones and other types of tissue.  A comfrey leaf or a cloth bathed in comfrey tea was used as a bandage to impart comfrey's properties to the skin and interior tissues.

In contemporary life, comfrey could be useful for some unusual foot issues as well.  For example, the quinalone class of antibiotics has been found to shorten tendons in some users of these drugs.  The Achilles tendon, which connects the heel bone (calcaneus) to the calf muscles (Gastrocnemius and Soleus), is the largest tendon in the body.  In some people, this strong tendon, if shortened, can actually detach from the calcaneous by ripping small pieces of bone from the calcaneous at the attachment point.  Soaking the heel in a comfrey tea, a comfrey poltice around the heel, or wrapping the heel with a cloth bathed in a tea may help the bone fragment reattach to the calcaneous.  I also recommend a comfrey tea soak to a friend who fell from a ladder and shattered his calcaneous.  Surgeons have put all the fragments into correct alignment, but his body is so depleted that it is having trouble creating integrity of all the fragments.  Perhaps comfrey could help.

Important note:  Comfrey can heal skin so quickly, that it should not be placed on cuts until after the cut has begun to heal from the inside out in order to prevent healing on the surface from trapping infection inside.  Likewise, comfrey should only be used to speed healing to bones that are in proper alignment.

Lucinda Tear is an ARCB certified reflexologist practicing in Winthrop, Washington, in the heart of the Methow Valley.