Comfrey makes backs comfy, study claims

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A comfrey plant. I harvested a large pile of the stuff once, working for room and board on an organic farm in my wild and free hippie youth.

Here’s a well-I’ll-be-darned study.

These kinds of results are usually published in journals like Herbal Believer and The Journal of Cheering for Herbal Remedies No Matter What.

But this is from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a respectable publication.

Researchers not only found that ointment made from the root of the comfrey plant is an effective treatment for low back pain, but a “potent” one. Assuming the experimental results are sound, this one’s a rare, clear win for a traditional herbal remedy.

“The results of this clinical trial were clear-cut and consistent,” the authors report. “Comfrey root extract showed a remarkably potent and clinically relevant effect in reducing acute back pain.”

At first glance this certainly looks like an adequate test of comfrey. I will be watching for confirmation studies.