Natural treatments for bruises
Natural treatments for bruises focus on remedies that may enhance healing and reduce the appearance of bruises resulting from injuries or surgery. Bruises form when blood vessels are damaged, allowing blood to seep into surrounding tissues. For individuals prone to bruising, often due to factors like aging or medication, several natural options have emerged. Key proposed treatments include bilberry, citrus bioflavonoids, and vitamin C, which may strengthen capillaries and promote healing. Topical applications like escin, derived from horse chestnut, and proteolytic enzymes such as trypsin and chymotrypsin are also highlighted for their potential to reduce swelling and tenderness when applied shortly after a bruise occurs.
Other natural remedies such as arnica, bromelain, and sweet clover are commonly used externally, although scientific validation for their effectiveness varies. While some studies suggest positive outcomes, the need for more rigorous research remains. Additional methods like applying ice, heat, or using topical creams of vitamin K and aloe vera are frequently recommended for managing bruises, although many lack extensive scientific backing. Overall, while natural treatments offer various options for managing bruises, individuals should approach these remedies with an awareness of the current evidence and consult healthcare providers when necessary.
Natural treatments for bruises
DEFINITION: Treatment of blood-containing tissue caused by damage to blood vessels from injury or surgery.
PRINCIPAL PROPOSED NATURAL TREATMENTS: Bilberry, citrus bioflavonoids, escin (topical), oligomeric proanthocyanidins, trypsin and chymotrypsin, vitamin C
OTHER PROPOSED NATURAL TREATMENTS: Arnica (topical), bromelain, comfrey (topical), sweet clover (topical)
Introduction
Bruising and bleeding both occur because of damage to blood vessels. When a vein, artery, or capillary is torn or cut, blood flows out into the vessel’s surroundings; if the escaped blood is contained within the tissues directly under the skin, a bruise forms.
While all people bruise from time to time, some people bruise particularly easily. A number of factors, besides being accident-prone, can make this occur. One factor contributing to easy bruising is thinning skin caused by aging or medications such as corticosteroids. Easy bruising can also be caused by fragile blood vessel walls. Finally, difficulties with blood clotting, including problems with platelets or clotting factors, can also increase bruising. For this reason, strong blood-thinning drugs such as heparin and warfarin (Coumadin) can lead to excessive bruising. If a person is taking these or other anticoagulant drugs and notices increased bruising, they should consult a doctor.
Aspirin or natural remedies, such as policosanol, ginkgo, garlic, and high-dose vitamin E, may also thin the blood, possibly raising the risk of bruising and other bleeding problems. Combining two blood-thinning substances could multiply these effects.
Rarely, severe bruising from minor or unnoticed injuries can be a sign of leukemia or another serious health problem. Especially if this is a new development, one should discuss symptoms with a doctor. However, in most cases, there is no identifiable medical cause for easy bruising and no conventional treatment. Furthermore, once a person has a bruise, no conventional therapy exists to help speed its resolution.
Principal Proposed Natural Treatments
Several natural substances might be helpful for easy bruising, including citrus bioflavonoids, the related substances oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) and bilberry, and vitamin C. In addition, if one is already bruised, it might help to take a combination of two proteolytic enzymes, trypsin, and chymotrypsin, or a topical preparation of escin (an extract of horse chestnut).
Citrus bioflavonoids and related substances. Bioflavonoids (or flavonoids) are plant substances that bring color to many fruits and vegetables. Citrus fruits are a rich source of bioflavonoids, including diosmin, hesperidin, rutin, and naringen; studies have found these bioflavonoids may help decrease bruising. Two types of natural compounds related to bioflavonoids (OPCs and anthocyanosides) have also shown promise for decreasing the tendency to bruise.
For example, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ninety-six people with fragile capillaries found that a combination of the bioflavonoids diosmin and hesperidin decreased the tendency to bruise. Participants took two tablets daily of these bioflavonoids or a placebo for six weeks, while researchers used a suction cup to measure their capillaries’ tendency to rupture and also looked for spontaneous bruising and other symptoms of fragile capillaries. Those persons who received bioflavonoids had significantly greater improvements in both capillary strength and symptoms compared to those taking a placebo.
Two poorly designed studies from the 1960s found benefits with a combination of vitamin C and citrus bioflavonoids for decreasing bruising in collegiate athletes. In a single-blind study of twenty-seven wrestlers, 71 percent of those taking a placebo were injured, with bruises making up more than one-half of their injuries; in contrast, only 38 percent of those taking the supplement were injured, none of whom sustained bruises. In a follow-up double-blind study of forty football players, the treated group received fewer severe bruises than the group taking a placebo.
Test tube studies have found that OPCs protect collagen partly by inhibiting an enzyme that breaks it down. One rather poorly designed double-blind study of thirty-seven people, most of whom had fragile capillaries, found that OPCs were more effective than placebo in decreasing capillary fragility; however, the authors of this study left many questions unanswered in their report, making it difficult to determine how seriously to take their results.
Anthocyanosides, which are present in high concentrations in bilberry, may also strengthen capillaries through their effects on collagen. Some European physicians believe that these vessel-stabilizing properties make bilberry useful as a treatment for easy bruising, but the evidence is only suggestive.
Vitamin C. Vitamin C is essential for healthy collagen; severe vitamin C deficiency, called scurvy, can lead to easy bruising. Scurvy is extremely rare in Western countries, but marginal vitamin C deficiency is common, and it might lead to an increased risk of bruising. Vitamin C can be ingested in food, taken as a supplement, or applied as a cream or serum.
A two-month double-blind study of ninety-four older adults with marginal vitamin C deficiency found that vitamin C supplements decreased their tendency to bruise. A person whose diet is low in fresh fruits and vegetables may wish to supplement it with vitamin C. In the foregoing study, bruising in older adults decreased significantly with one gram (g) of oral vitamin C given daily for two months.
Trypsin and chymotrypsin. Trypsin and chymotrypsin, naturally produced in the body to help digest protein, are often called proteolytic enzymes. (Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme from a plant source.) It is theorized that trypsin and chymotrypsin reduce swelling by breaking down protein fibers that trap fluids in the tissues after an injury, thereby restoring normal circulation in the area. Three small double-blind studies involving about eighty athletes found that treatment with proteolytic enzymes significantly speeded healing of bruises and other mild athletic injuries compared with the placebo.
Escin. An extract of horse chestnut called escin may also help with bruising. Horse chestnut has been used to treat varicose veins and other problems involving blood vessels and swelling. One double-blind study of seventy people found that about ten g of 2 percent escin gel, applied externally to bruises in a single dose five minutes after they were induced, reduced bruise tenderness.
Other Proposed Natural Treatments
Bromelain. Like trypsin and chymotrypsin, bromelain is thought to decrease bruising by breaking down proteins that trap fluids in the tissues after an injury, and it is sometimes used in Europe to speed recovery from injuries. However, studies of better quality are needed before bromelain can be said to be effective.
In one controlled study, seventy-four boxers with bruises on their faces and upper bodies were given bromelain until all signs of bruising had disappeared; another seventy-two boxers were given a placebo. Fifty-eight of the group taking bromelain had lost all signs of bruising within only four days, compared to ten days taking placebo. This study was not double-blind, meaning that some of its results may have come from the power of suggestion. Another study (this one without any control group) found that bromelain reduced swelling, pain at rest, and tenderness among fifty-nine persons with blunt injuries, including bruising.
In another study of patients undergoing facial surgery, bromelin use was found to be helpful in preventing bruising. The participants drank 350 milliliters of pineapple juice (a natural source of bromelain) one week before and one week after surgery and experienced less bruising and swelling than other patients. Bromelain can also be taken as a supplement or applied as a cream.
Other herbs used. The herbs comfrey, Arnica, and sweet clover are widely used externally on bruises and other minor injuries. Despite this traditional use, there is little scientific evidence that they work. Various safety concerns are involved in using comfrey, Arnica, and sweet clover internally. They are used as topical ointments and salves to treat bruising. In a review of twenty-five studies, eighteen found positive results using Arnica for bruises. However, because of a lack of standardization, further testing is needed.
More natural treatments. There is a long list of other proposed natural treatments for bruising. Holding ice or heat on the bruise may help decrease healing time, as well as using compression and elevating the bruised area of the body. Topical treatments such as vitamin K cream, aloe vera, and comfrey cream have also been suggested. Other proposed natural treatments include an apple cider vinegar wash, Epsom salt soak, witch hazel, and ginger. Many of these natural treatments for bruising do not have scientific studies backing their effectiveness.
Bibliography
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