Once more, with barely any feeling

I just realized I’ve been overlooking the most blatant example of bad thinking I could possibly hope to find.

It’s been right under my nose and, in the past, on my calves and hamstrings, too.

I’m talking about homeopathic arnica remedies.

That’s right, in the past I applied homeopathic arnica with the expectation that it would reduce inflammation, eliminate muscle soreness, and generally help my body feel better. In my mind, arnica was like topical aspirin.

I say “in my mind” because it never did a thing to my body. Never. Ever. A thing. Nothing.

But here’s the joke (and that bad thinking example I mentioned):

1. Homeopathy is based on the idea that to CURE something, you give the patient a small dose of something that usually CAUSES the same symptoms
2. So if you want to reduce inflammation/soreness, the homeopathic treatment should be something that would normally cause those symptoms
3. Arnica, in it’s non-homeopathic form, has been used for centuries to reduce inflammation and soreness (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnica)

Do the math here, folks.

Applying a homeopathic treatment of arnica should make you MORE sore and MORE inflamed!

And, in my experience it does exactly that. I was pretty sore and inflamed after spending all that money and all that time (applying it 5x/day) on a treatment that didn’t help me a bit.

Q.E.D.