Compresses, Plasters and Packs

To dissolve stagnations, very effective to rejuvenate, soften and revitalize tissues.

A Compress is an application, to some surface part of the body, or a piece of cloth (linen or flannel) that has been dipped into a liquid and wrung out. A compress can be hot, in which case it is also called a Fomentation, or it can be cold.

A Plaster or a Poultice is an application composed of a soft, moist, paste-like mixture, spread over a surface of the body (a plaster) or contained between layers of linen, gauze, towels or muslin and as such applied to a surface of the body (a poultice).

A Pack or a Bag is the application of a more firm substance, wrapped in a cloth or contained in a bag.
If the substance is a liquid, it is usually contained in a rubber sack, and this application is called a Bottle.

Ginger Compress or Ginger Fomentation

Ingredients and Utensils:

• Fresh ginger roots are not hard to find these days: natural food stores as well as supermarkets carry them. If you buy a large quantity, you better store the roots as follows: bury them in dry sand, in a flower pot for instance; keep this pot in a cool, dry place. This way, ginger roots will stay fresh for a long time.
  If you cannot find fresh ginger, use ginger powder.
• You will need a large, heavy pot with a lid. The pot should hold at least one gallon of liquid, and should keep its contents hot. An enameled pot is therefore preferable.
• One gallon of water. (1 gallon is about 4 liters)
• A grater: an earthenware or a porcelain grater is preferable.
• One large, thick bath towel.
• Two or three smaller cotton kitchen towels.
• A small cotton bag with a small string .. You can make such a bag yourself, and use it solely for preparing ginger water. Another possibility is a small cotton towel or cheesecloth, and a piece of string or some rubber bands or a white cotton sock that can be tied with a knot.

· Optional: rubber gloves,

· Optional: old newspapers or a piece of plastic (such as a kitchen bag).

Preparing Ginger Water: Bring a liter of water to a boil in a covered pot. In the meantime wash some fresh ginger roots. You should cut out any black spots, but you don't need to peel the root. Then grate the root. You will find that grating in a rotating motion is better than in a back and forth movement: if you grate back and forth, many ginger fibers start to build up on the grating surface, making it difficult to continue grating. To prepare one elite of ginger water, you will need about 100 -140 gm. of grated ginger. This quantity cannot be standardized because the desired concentration of the ginger water can vary; also, because some roots are more juicy than others.

If you are not able to obtain fresh ginger root, use about 1 - tablespoon of ginger powder for a liter of water. Next, wrap the grated ginger or ginger powder in the bag. Some people put the ginger directly in the hot water, however we find it handier, cleaner and safer not to do this. Particles of grated ginger tend to stick to the skin, causing an excessive irritation. Wet the cotton bag, and insert the grated ginger (or ginger powder). Close the bag tightly. If you do not have a bag, put the ginger on the center of a damp cotton cloth or on the center of 2-3 layers of cheesecloth. Fold the corners to make a little bag, and close this bag with the string or some ' rubber bands. Do not fold the cloth too tightly around the ginger. There should be enough space inside to allow water to circulate throughout the contents.

By now the water should be boiling. Before doing anything else, turn down the flame so that the water merely simmers gently. Please note that from this point on, whether preparing ginger water, applying ginger compresses or reheating ginger water, you should take care not to bring the liquid to a full boil. At the boiling point the active ingredients of ginger water are rapidly destroyed.

Now uncover the pot. If you are using fresh grated ginger, squeeze the bag out well into the pot before dropping it in the hot water. Replace the lid. Let the water simmer for 5 minutes. The liquid will start to look yellowish, and it should start to give off the smell of ginger strongly. If this does not happen, squeeze the bag against the pot once or twice with a pair of chopsticks or with a wooden fork or spoon. Turn off the flame when the liquid seems ready, and remove the pot. While you are applying compresses, the ginger water tends to cool off gradually. To be effective, a ginger compress must be applied fairly hot. It may therefore be necessary to reheat this water briefly, or you can add more boiling water to it. Alternatively, you can keep the ginger water hot by using an electric hot plate while applying the compresses. Although we always discourage the use of electricity for preparing foods or drinks, it can be used in this case.

Ginger Water: The liquid is now ready to be used for compresses. However, this ginger water could also be used for several purposes other than compresses:

• It could be added to bathing water. For a full bath or for partial baths such as a hip bath, hand bath or footbath.
• It could be used for scrubbing the body. These treatments are described later.

Applying a Ginger Compress: If the person to be treated is lying down on the floor, be careful not to spill ginger water on a wooden floor. It damages the wood. To prevent this, put newspapers or plastic on the floor. The person who is receiving the compress should lie down comfortably. The area of the body which is going to be treated must be widely bared.

It is possible to apply ginger compresses on yourself, but it is much easier, safer and more effective if they are applied by a friend. In case you have very sensitive hands, or if you have to perform this treatment frequently, it may be better to wear rubber gloves.

Fold a cotton kitchen towel as shown in Fig. 17. Remove the lid from the pot and dip the middle part of the towel in the ginger water, while holding both ends. Lift out the towel and squeeze the excess water back into the pot. This needs a little practice because for best results you shouldn't remove too much or too little water. Replace the lid.

Now unfold the towel for a moment. It should be steaming. Refold the towel to the desired width (depending on the area to be treated), and apply it directly on the skin. (See Fig. 18.) It should be as hot as the receiver can bear. If you are inexperienced, it is better to test the heat of the compress on yourself as follows: bring the compress near your face for a moment. If you can do this, you can be sure that the compress is not too hot. If you don't use this test, be very careful not to burn the receiver's skin. You should realize that some body areas can be burned without anyone knowing it. In particular the back is not very sensitive to heat. Also do not forget that some areas can be burned more easily, such as the breast or the genital area. It is definitely not the purpose of a ginger compress to burn the skin, but rather to apply as warm a compress as can comfortably be tolerated. If the surface to be treated is very large, you must immediately apply a second towel next to the first, or even a third towel next to the second.

In order to keep the heat in the compress for as long as possible, you must now place one or even two bath towels on top of the compress. Or if you wish, you may apply a second compress on top of the first, and then cover both with a bath towel. Some people think it would be advantageous to cover the compress with a rubber sheet, or with vinyl or plastic, because this can keep the heat longer. This, however, is not good. It counteracts the purpose of the ginger compresses, and in some situations may even worsen the condition! We will explain more later.

Using these techniques, the compress will stay hot for 3-10 minutes. In order to enhance the effect of the compress, some people recommend pressing the compress with both hands, or applying a light vibrating massage through the covering towel. We do not advise this. It is usually too bothersome or too painful for the receiver. As soon as the recipient no longer feels the heat of the compress, you must apply another one. Or you can, if you wish, prepare a new compress as soon as the first one has been applied. Then put on this new compress when it is ready, without waiting for the first one to cool off. In practical terms this means that you will be placing on a new compress every 3-4 minutes.

Duration of a Treatment: You must apply new compresses until the skin shows a lasting deep red color. Usually this takes about 20-30 minutes, and means that the compresses are exchanged 5-10 times. In some cases it is necessary to continue treatment much longer. To treat a chronic condition, 20-30 minutes may be sufficient, but to relieve acute situations such as an asthma crisis, or a discharge of a kidney stone, the treatment can be or must be continued much longer.

Ending a Treatment: After each treatment all towels should be rinsed thoroughly and then dried. Keep these towels separate and use them only for applying ginger compresses.

Ginger water is most potent for only two to three hours. If two or three treatments per day are necessary for a serious condition, you should prepare fresh ginger water for every treatment. For a less serious condition you can use the same ginger water several times during one day (i.e., 24 hours), but the next day you should prepare fresh liquid. However, do not discard day old ginger water. You can reheat it and then add it to a bath or use is for a footbath: soaking the feet in hot water (ginger water or plain hot water) and washing them with soap before going to bed secures a good sleep. You can also use day old ginger water in the morning: vigorously wash or scrub the body with it. This is very stimulating.

The Purpose and the Way of Action of a Ginger Compress: The main purpose of a ginger compress is to strongly increase blood circulation and body fluids at areas where stagnation exists. This stagnation usually manifests itself in the form of pain, inflammation, swelling or stiffness.

It additionally helps to actively disperse stagnated energy, and to re-establish a good energy exchange between the body and the environment. The application of a rubber or vinyl sheet on top of a compress would hinder this energy exchange. It could even lead to a worsen the condition instead of relieving it.! In this case, the heat of the compress activates the local energy, but its exchange with the environment is on the contrary hindered by the rubber or vinyl sheet. The active factors in a ginger compress are:

1. STRONG HEAT. Strong heat will dilate the blood vessels and thereby it will activate the movement of stagnated fluids. Strong heat will also melt or soften mucus stagnations and fatty accumulations and will tend to break up mineral crystallisations. Strong heat has the further advantage of penetrating deeply into the body. Thus a ginger compress can exert its influence deep inside the body, even within solid organs such as the kidneys and liver, or within the lungs.
2. GINGER. Due to its nature, ginger easily penetrates into the body. (We sometimes noticed a ginger smell in the breath of a person who had been treated with ginger compresses on the kidneys.) Because of its penetrating nature, ginger will also disperse stagnated yin substances such as mucus and fat accumulations. Ginger will further increase local circulation because it opens the blood vessels.

As a result of this double effect, thick liquids in the body start to liquify, heavy deposits start to dissolve, stagnated liquids begin to move again, and gradually all treated tissues become cleansed and nourished with fresh blood. That is to say, tissues will gradually rejuvenate, soften and revitalize.

We should never forget however that these stagnations and deposits originated in our way of living. Primarily in our way of eating, especially by using too much meat, cheese, butter, sugar, eggs and milk. Everyone can benefit from the effect of a ginger compress, but to produce a lasting improvement we must also change our way of eating. However, even when we have been eating natural balanced wholesome food for years, not necessarily will all our hardenings, deposits, and stagnations caused by our past living habits disappeared. Their disappearance can be achieved by:

1) Activity (work, exercises such as do-in, bicycling, etc.): this is the best way to increase our circulation in general.

2) Controlling overeating and chewing your foods thoroughly.

3) Ginger compresses: this may be one of the best ways to stimulate circulation at certain stagnated or tens locations.

4) Shiatsu massage.

Indications-Specific Situations in which We can Use Ginger Compress:

1. Many types of acute or chronic pains can be relieved by ginger compresses, such as rheumatism, arthritis, backaches, cramps (intestinal cramps, menstrual cramps, etc.), kidney stone attacks, toothaches, stiff neck, and similar problems. If the pain worsens during the treatment, you should discontinue the compresses. Painful conditions in which a ginger compress is definitely not recommended are described a little further on.
2. Ginger compresses can speed up the improvement from a variety of inflammatory conditions: for instance bronchitis, acute or chronic liver inflammation, kidney inflammation, prostate infection, bladder inflammation, intestinal inflammations (but never in the case of appendicitis), boils and abscesses.
3. To relieve congestive conditions such as asthma. In case of an asthma attack the compresses can be continued for a long period, even for hours.
4. Ginger compresses can be extremely useful to dissolve hardened accumulations of fats, proteins or minerals. Examples of these are kidney stones, gallbladder stones, cysts (breast cysts, ovarian cysts) and benign tumors such as uterine fibroids.
5. To dissolve muscle tensions.
6. When tissues have been damaged, ginger compresses can speed up the regeneration of the damaged area. We noticed for instance tremendous benefits of ginger compress in the after-treatment of broken bones.

You must realize that while ginger compresses by themselves can be a sufficient symptomatic help, often they need to be accompanied by another external treatment (such as a taro potato plaster) in order to have a good, lasting relief of symptoms.

Finally, we wish to stress once more that these compresses should not be considered as the only or most important factor in the treatment. They can give very effective symptomatic relief, but they do not remove the basic cause of the problem.

Counter-Indications-Situations in which not to Apply Ginger Compress: Most of these counter-indications were discovered over time by trial and error. If we understand the nature of the ginger compress, it is obvious why the use of a ginger compress is not appropriate in some situations.

Actually, ginger compresses are hot producing applications. The ginger helps this heat to penetrate even further. It would therefore be wrong to apply a ginger compress on areas and in the following situations :

1. Never apply a ginger compress on the brain-area. In the case of a headache caused by, for instance, a sinusitis, it is allowable to use a mild ginger compress on the facial area, or to use warm ginger water in the form of a facial scrub.
2. Never apply a ginger compress on a baby or on very old people.
3. Never apply a ginger compress on the lower abdominal area of pregnant women (this area is very active during this time).

4. Never apply a ginger compress on an inflamed appendix (appendicitis) or on a lung affected by pneumonia. Both conditions are in the first place generated by the consumption of animal foods (meats, eggs, poultry, cheese).

5. Never apply a ginger compress when a high fever is present. First of all you must try to reduce the fever.

6. Finally, it is of extreme importance to remember that a ginger compress should never be applied on any cancerous tumor without medical or professional advise. If this would be done repeatedly, it would accelerate the metabolism, and the multiplication and movement of cancer cells. As a result an increased growth of the tumor and a more rapid spreading of the cancer cells could arise.

(Source: Macrobiotic Home Remedies-Michio Kushi/Marc Van Cauwenberghe, M.D.)

Further studies:

How our food choices effects the health of our Mother Earth

The health effects of meat and dairy products

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