Mustard powder, when made into a paste with a touch of water and flour and applied in a cloth on to lightly oiled skin, has unique power of bringing blood to the surface of the skin. It quickly heats up the area, and, as the blood rushes to the skin surface, even the worst congestion diminishes.
Indications : Internal congestion, lumbago, neuritis, poor local circulation, bronchitis, sciatica.
Procedure : Prepare a large linen or cotton cloth by folding the cloth in thirds. In a bowl, mix one cup of dry, powdered mustard with tepid water until it has creamy consistency. Increase the amount of powder according to the amount of poultice needed. Place the mustard paste on a paper towel. Fold the towel and make a pack, and place it in the folded linen or cotton cloth. Heat the pack by placing a hot water bottle on it. If the client has sensitive skin, oil the skin lightly with olive or vegetable oil. Place a thin cloth on the area, and apply the mustard pack. Cover the area with a blanket. At first the heat may seem intense, but then it lessens. As the skin became very red, the pack can be transferred from area, of the chest to the upper back (in case of bronchitis) or to other areas of intense pain.
Duration : Apply the pack to each area for ten minutes. The entire treatment should last half an hour.
Hot and Cold Fango (Mud) and Clay Packs
Hot sand, hot fango packs and clay packs have been used for centuries by different cultures to relieve joint pain. The material used is either organic volcanic ash, peat from bogs, mineral sea mud or clay from high mineral areas. All of these substances are available in powder form. Fango (mud) packs have extracting ability because the mineral content increases the heat and chemical action on the skin. Because clay and/or earth draw out poisons, such packs not only soften the skin and release tension around joints, but also absorb internal toxic or pathogenic material.
Indications : Chronic rheumatism, chronic neuralgia, chronic pain, non-acute arthritis, muscle spasms, chronic sciatica.
Contraindications : Small application of clay or mud will vitalise the entire body, but immersion mineral mud baths are contraindicated in cases of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or arteriosclerosis.
Procedure : Heat up the mud powder. Add water to soften it. Spread this in a one or two-inch thickness on a soft cotton cloth, slightly larger than the area you wish to cover. Place the hot mud directly on the hurt area. Cover the area with a dry light weight cloth. Leave on until it dries (fifteen to thirty minutes). Rinse off with warm water, then splash with a little cool water. Remove the dried mud by sponging or showering it off. Follow with a rain or needle shower. Dry gently with a mild cloth. If the body is still heated, keep the area warm and dry afterward.
Fango Moor Pack (German)
Ingredients : Nalural Moor-Peloid from the moorfields of northern Germany.
Indications for Hot Pack : Subacute and chronic conditions of rheumatism, degenerative joint and spinal conditions, soft tissue rheumatism, post-acute traumas of joints and muscles, lack of functional blood circulation, chronic pain, discomfort in the abdominal region.
Contraindications for Hot Pack : Acute inflammation, trauma, bleeding, oedema, insufficiencies in vascular capillaries and vessels, elevated body temperature, fever, sensitive skin areas, acute skin conditions, skin burns.
Indications for Cold Pack : Acute conditions of rheumatism, degenerative joint and spinal conditions, soft tissue rheumatism, acute traumas of joints and muscles, acute inflammation of organs in the abdominal region, augmentive therapy in venous and lymphatic vascular symptoms, fever.
Contraindications for Cold Pack : Insufficiencies in vascular capillaries and vessels, local and general skin sensitivity to cold.
Procedure : Apply pack to the skin. Hot pack application temperature is 107°F or more, according lo tolerance. Cold pack application temperature is 60°F or less, according to tolerance. Apply pack for twenty lo thirty minutes. Client should rest after application for twenty to thirty minutes.
Parafango (Paraffin Fango) Pack
Investigations aimed at improving the thermophysical conditions of fango, which would make the application easier and raise the basic hygienic conditions when thermal fango packs were applied, led to the development of Parafango by Professor Hesse in Hamburg, Germany. Introduced as a treatment in 1952, the preparation has since become widely known in practice and literature in Europe. Parafango is compounded of dried fango and paraffins with different fusing points. It also contains minute additions of talcum and magnesium oxide in order to prevent the fango from precipitating in the melted paraffins, as well as to heighten the plasticity and the malleablitiy of the material. Parafango melts at (140°F-158°F) to an easy-to-spread paste that, exactly within the range of its temperature of application, constitutes an extremely plastic mass that is easily moulded to any part of the body at 122°F. The application of hot Parafango packs on parts of the body’s surface is a purely thermal process.
Indications : Inflammatory rheumatism (declining acute rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis), degenerative rheumatism (osteo arthritis, intervertebral discopalhies, non-articular rheumatism such as fibrositis myalgia, painful shoulder), dermatology (psoriatic arthropathy, scleroderma).
Contraindications : Acute neuritis, acute primary rheumatoid arthritis, recent thrombophlebitis and eczema, all forms of heart and circulation deficiencies, high grade hypertension, angina pectoris, distinct vegetative dystonia, and convalescence.
Procedure :
Local packings : On one or two larger joints, a small area of torso.
Part packs : On three or four large joints, entire extremities, back and abdomen or pelvic packs.
Large packs : Entire extremities, back with abdominal pack.
Alpine Flower Haypack
Indications : Area with muscular tension and/or joint discomfort, degeneration of the joints, degeneration of Ihe spine or acute bronchitis.
Contraindications : Heart disease, inflamed treatment area.
Effects : Relaxes, increases blood circulation, reduces pain, calms.
Equipment : 1 woollen blanket, 1 linen cloth, 1 meadow flower herbal pack.
Procedure : Moisten the herbal pack with water. Place herbal pack in a steamer or in a hydroinfuser. Steam the pack for approximately thirty minutes. Remove the haypack carefully from the steamer and shake it with both hands. Apply the haypack carefully. Observe the skin’s reaction to the pack. Gradually wrap tighter. After wrapping, cover client with a blanket. Remove the pack before it cools down (usually forty-five minutes). Have client rest for thirty to sixty minutes after the treatment.
Neck Haypack – Hot Temperature
Indications : Tightness in the neck, cervical syndrome.
Contraindications : Neuritis, inflammation of the skin in the treatment area.
Effects : Relaxes muscles, reduces spasms, increases blood circulation, stimulates metabolism, reduces pain.
Equipment : 1 woollen blanket, 1 linen cloth, 1 meadow flower haypack.
Procedure : Apply the hot haypack lightly onto the neck. Be careful not to burn the skin. In order to prevent heat from escaping, wrap the haypack snugly. Leave on as long as the pack feels warm.
Lumbar Haypack – Hot Temperature
Indications : Chronic coxarthrosis, chronic lumbago.
Contraindications : Acute lumbago, inflammation in the area of treatment.
Effects : Relaxes muscles, reduces spasms, stimulates blood circulation, calms, reduces pain.
Equipment : 1 woollen blanket, 1 linen cloth, 1-2 meadow flower haypacks.
Procedure : Apply the haypack carefully on the client. Fasten haypack tightly and be careful not to burn the skin. In order to prevent heat from escaping, wrap the haypack snugly. The client can lie sideways or lie comfortably on the back. Leave on as long as the haypack feels warm to the client.