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Foreword

by Carolyn Dean M.D.

Most people treat pain and inflammation with medication. However, strong analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs can have serious side effects, such as bleeding ulcers, fluid retention, and digestive problems. The vilified anti-inflammatories, Vioxx and Celebrex, also cause symptoms of heart disease. To offer my patients something other than drugs, I decided to learn acupuncture in medical school. I convinced a Chinese anesthesiologist to allow me to observe in his acupuncture clinic in my second year elective. I learned about all the incurable diseases in my morning class and in the afternoon I saw them cured.

I also wanted to learn about Chinese herbs for pain and inflammation. However, when I studied Chinese herbal medicine with Jeffrey Yuen in New York, I found the subject incredibly complex. The formulas used in martial arts alone required years of study to formulate and apply, a well stocked herbal formulary, and a knowledgeable herbalist to mix the ingredients. As a consumer, if you have to wade into your local Chinatown and purchase herbs without a single letter of usable English on the label, you aren’t in do-it-yourself territory. I was surprised when the last wound plaster I got from a TCM practitioner contained acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) when I read the fine print on the label.

Now, in this one volume you can access accurate and dependable Western herbs that are safe and effective treatments for sports injuries. Dr. Peterson had done a wonderful job of organizing the information and presenting it in an understandable and usable way. As a writer, I can only imagine the hundreds, no, thousands of hours that went into this volume.

As a clinician, I immediately gravitated to Chapter Four, which gives prescriptive advice for joint pain and inflammation, sprains, fractures, bruises, wounds, bleeding, puncture wounds, itchy sores, abrasions, chapped skin, old wounds, bruised lips, muscle cramps, aching muscles, scars and more. Active people suffer other symptoms besides musculoskeletal, so, Dr. Peterson also covers simple colds, anxiety, insomnia, digestion, motion sickness, and even fungal infections.

Chapter Two is a great herbal reference of over sixty herbs that answers the basic questions: What’s it good for; How do you use it; How much do you use; and What should you be aware of before using it. Other chapters tackle the difficult topics of herbal side effects and herb/drug interactions. My bias, of course, is to use herbal remedies first before turning to drugs, but if you are already on a medication you need to know if a certain herb will accentuate the drug’s effects or heal the condition and make the drug superfluous!

The book is called Western Herbs for Martial Artists and Contact Athletes but it has a much broader appeal. I’m going to recommend it to every athlete I know. Actually, to everyone I know because anyone can pull a muscle or fall and hurt himself on a curb or trip over a stone and benefit from Dr. Peterson’s guidance.

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. is a medical doctor, naturopath, herbalist and homeopath. She is the author and co-author of 17 books on health, an online newsletter, and online health programs at www.drcarolyndean.com.