Valued by herbalists, midwives, and mothers throughout history, compresses and poultices are gentle yet highly effective natural remedies you can safely use at home. Easily made from materials you already have in your kitchen, such as ice cubes, herbs, cabbage leaves, lemon slices, clay, or beeswax, these simple preparations can quickly ease pain and inflammation, relieve congestion and edema, lower fever, drain abscesses, activate circulation, calm muscle spasms, and trigger the body’s natural self-healing abilities. In this step-by-step naturopathic guide to compresses and poultices, Christopher Vasey, N.D., shows how to use these time-tested folk remedies to treat 70 common ailments and conditions, including headache, asthma, acne, sinusitis, earache, arthritis, sprains, hives, shingles, anxiety, insomnia, mastitis, constipation, diarrhea, muscle pains, bronchitis, and more. He explains that a compress is a cloth soaked in hot or cold infused water and applied to a specific part of the body. A poultice works similarly, but instead of a liquid extract, the healing material is made into a paste and applied directly to the body. Vasey also explores the physiological reasons these simple remedies can be so effective, such as how some treatments trigger healing through the nerves, others cause the skin to absorb or expel substances, and others have beneficial effects on the body’s internal chemistry. He reveals how compresses and poultices not only can alleviate acute symptoms, but are equally effective for dealing with chronic conditions.