There is a growing evidence-base supporting the effectiveness of Traumeel, alone and in combination with other medicines and/or nonmedicine therapies, in treating acute musculoskeletal injuries. Traumeel appears to be well tolerated, with no signs of severe adverse events and no evidence of gastrointestinal bleeding.63 NSAIDs may cause gastrointestinal ulceration and bleeding, and are a particular risk for patients with diseases, on co-medications, or who are elderly. A recent consensus by international experts on “muscle strains” concluded against automatic prescription of a NSAID for all muscle strains, as they may predispose to recurrences by masking pain.64 However, they also agreed that controlling inflammation may be beneficial to minimize early damage and subsequent loss of function.64 Traumeel may thus provide an alternative anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent for these patients.
There is also growing insight into the mechanisms of action of this therapy on immune cell function. However, research behind CAM therapies is indisputably lacking, with RCTs reported to comprise only about 10% of published original articles in sport and exercise medicine.65 The level of scientific evidence supporting use of Traumeel is considered still to be low due to the lack of clinical trials. However, there is no more justification than expert opinion for the use of the vast majority of other practices for musculoskeletal injuries, including ice and compression.64 Regardless, further double-blinded randomized trials are required to increase Traumeel’s general acceptance as an emerging option to NSAIDs and other conventional drugs.
Hmm, I notice, per Cody's link, that one of the ingredients is arnica, another is calendula. Arnica's been used forever in horse liniment (which is an alcohol, usually, based lotion people use to rub down a horse's legs after hard workouts to keep them cool). Calendula has too, but does nothing for bruises -- it's supposed to soothe the skin and act as a mild anti-bacterial -- keeps them from getting the scratches.
Some old timers swear by both (although never the calendula for bruising), but others say it's the alcohol in it that is really doing the trick. However, none of them will tell you that either one will pack the punch like actual meds -- it's used on sound horses to try and help keep them that way (horse people will go to great lengths and try just about anything to keep the horses going well...they are constant buyers of snake oil, so just an fyi).
The big take away though is: with the horses it's never supposed to be ingested (or even put over an open cut) -- the stuff's considered toxic. I know this because I worked for a stable that swore by the stuff in liniment, and was severely cautioned to not use it over even so much as a cut or under sweat wraps (those are something else they use). So...toxic, don't give to horses internally, and not going to effect a cure on a horse with real issues (may not even be the stuff that works in the liniment in the first place), go get the good stuff from the vet for that...
I guess this means the horse people (who would sacrifice a freaking chicken under the light of a full moon if they thought it would give them a competitive edge) are being more sensible with their snake oil than the people medicine folks. Kinda ironic.
PW
*and at least the old boys used to make it up themselves, gallons at a time (it's pretty cut with either alcohol or generic Listerine), so they weren't spending a mint on it...something the human medicine people are doing the exact opposite of as well
Considering the language of the paper (and irregardless of personal, anecdotal experience of the very same stuff), I would want to know 1) more about Christian Schneider; 2)have other studies been done and what are their results? This before saying, yep, sure does work!
Kinda like, you know, getting a second, and possibly a third, peer opinion on global warming (also promoted by some scientific papers but debunked by others).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085232/
ReplyDeletesame link, clickable.
There is a growing evidence-base supporting the effectiveness of Traumeel, alone and in combination with other medicines and/or nonmedicine therapies, in treating acute musculoskeletal injuries. Traumeel appears to be well tolerated, with no signs of severe adverse events and no evidence of gastrointestinal bleeding.63 NSAIDs may cause gastrointestinal ulceration and bleeding, and are a particular risk for patients with diseases, on co-medications, or who are elderly. A recent consensus by international experts on “muscle strains” concluded against automatic prescription of a NSAID for all muscle strains, as they may predispose to recurrences by masking pain.64 However, they also agreed that controlling inflammation may be beneficial to minimize early damage and subsequent loss of function.64 Traumeel may thus provide an alternative anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent for these patients.
There is also growing insight into the mechanisms of action of this therapy on immune cell function. However, research behind CAM therapies is indisputably lacking, with RCTs reported to comprise only about 10% of published original articles in sport and exercise medicine.65 The level of scientific evidence supporting use of Traumeel is considered still to be low due to the lack of clinical trials. However, there is no more justification than expert opinion for the use of the vast majority of other practices for musculoskeletal injuries, including ice and compression.64 Regardless, further double-blinded randomized trials are required to increase Traumeel’s general acceptance as an emerging option to NSAIDs and other conventional drugs.
Hmm, I notice, per Cody's link, that one of the ingredients is arnica, another is calendula.
ReplyDeleteArnica's been used forever in horse liniment (which is an alcohol, usually, based lotion people use to rub down a horse's legs after hard workouts to keep them cool). Calendula has too, but does nothing for bruises -- it's supposed to soothe the skin and act as a mild anti-bacterial -- keeps them from getting the scratches.
Some old timers swear by both (although never the calendula for bruising), but others say it's the alcohol in it that is really doing the trick. However, none of them will tell you that either one will pack the punch like actual meds -- it's used on sound horses to try and help keep them that way (horse people will go to great lengths and try just about anything to keep the horses going well...they are constant buyers of snake oil, so just an fyi).
The big take away though is: with the horses it's never supposed to be ingested (or even put over an open cut) -- the stuff's considered toxic. I know this because I worked for a stable that swore by the stuff in liniment, and was severely cautioned to not use it over even so much as a cut or under sweat wraps (those are something else they use).
So...toxic, don't give to horses internally, and not going to effect a cure on a horse with real issues (may not even be the stuff that works in the liniment in the first place), go get the good stuff from the vet for that...
I guess this means the horse people (who would sacrifice a freaking chicken under the light of a full moon if they thought it would give them a competitive edge) are being more sensible with their snake oil than the people medicine folks. Kinda ironic.
PW
*and at least the old boys used to make it up themselves, gallons at a time (it's pretty cut with either alcohol or generic Listerine), so they weren't spending a mint on it...something the human medicine people are doing the exact opposite of as well
So that the link shows some scientific evidence that the stuff works--enough for them to suggest further testing didn't mean anything?
ReplyDeleteLOL.
Thanks PW.
Considering the language of the paper (and irregardless of personal, anecdotal experience of the very same stuff), I would want to know 1) more about Christian Schneider; 2)have other studies been done and what are their results? This before saying, yep, sure does work!
ReplyDeleteKinda like, you know, getting a second, and possibly a third, peer opinion on global warming (also promoted by some scientific papers but debunked by others).
LOL
PW