Traditional Indigenous medicine is a vast and complex specialist field, often plundered by corporate pirates and new age novices. Personal use only - do not exploit.
There are methods of Indigenous medicine that I have seen and heard of, but that you can't really share unless you "own" that knowledge of native remedies, as an expert, tribal doctor or elder. For example, there is Indigenous medicine method from Arnhem Land that involves manipulating limbs quite vigorously, with miraculous results. But this takes years of training and is limited to selected descendants of practitioners.
There are also many native remedies that involve supernatural practices using smoke and other techniques like oral suction. These really only work on patients who understand the impact of the spiritual world on health, however, people who are disconnected from this reality show little response. This is also something I am not qualified or permitted to share detail about.
However, I have often used, with great success, fairly common Indigenous medicinal plant knowledge that exists in the public domain. The simplest one I can think of is soapyleaf, which can be used to soothe arthritis and painful joints. It's also wonderful for an aching back.
Most countries around the world have some native version of this plant growing locally. Just do a googlesearch for native plants in your area with high saponin content, or even better, ask you local Indigenous elders about local trees whose leaves or bark can make soapy foam. They'll probably be thrilled that you're taking an interest, as long as you stress that you're not a corporate bioprospector from a pharmaceutical company! But seriously, make sure you promise it's for personal use - the plant and the knowledge don't belong to you.
How to use soapyleaf for backpain:
- Pick a double armful of the greenest and tenderest leaves off the soapyleaf tree.
- Crush all the leaves a handful at a time in a bucket of warm water, creating a soapy, slippery pulp.
- Have a loved one rub the pulp a handful at a time into your spine at the site of the pain.
- Have a loved one soak the area with the frothy juice from the bucket, trickling and rubbing it in.
- Create a poultice from the pulp and bind it to the spine for at least an hour.
I have used this successfully for myself, my children, and with miraculous results for my Aunty whose leg was crippled from a stroke.
