The external application of castor oil packs has the potential to stimulate the liver (your main detox organ), relieve sensations of pain, increase lymphatic circulation, reduce local inflammation and improve digestion.
👉 What is great about castor oil packs is that they are easy to use, inexpensive, and have a very high success rate! They are commonly used for liver support/detox, arthritic pain/sore joints, constipation, PCOS, and PMS cramps.
✅ STRONG IMMUNE SYSTEM & DETOX: The ricinoleic acid in castor targets the lymphatic system, helping your body produce or increase production of lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are the body’s natural disease fighter. They help drain your body of any toxins and proteins that have built up over time. Ridding the body of this accumulated waste in the blood can help improve your immune system.
👉 Using castor oil packs over the liver helps support optimized liver function, improves detoxification and reduces inflammation in the liver. Many natural health practitioners recommend you do a castor pack 1-3 times a week to help support their liver (esp. if you are dealing with mental health concerns, hormonal imbalance, detoxification issues or actual liver organ issues, like fatty liver). Note: this is in addition to other supports for liver health, not as a stand-alone treatment.
✅ REDUCE INFLAMMATION & PAIN: Castor oil packs have also been used to reduce inflammation caused by autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Since the oil has detoxing properties, it works at reducing the load of white blood cells that are attacking tissue, which reduces the inflammation.
👉 It can also help with any other type of inflammatory joint pain (know anyone with a sore knee or shoulder?). When placed on the aching area, the castor oil pack can greatly reduce pain, swelling and inflammation.
👉 With pain issues from acute or chronic issues, use castor oil packs daily on the affected body part for several consecutive days - especially when combined with heat using a heating pad or bottle, it reduces pain, swelling and inflammation.
☀️ USING A CASTOR OIL PACK (the word “pack” just refers to the fact that you make a little reusable packet made up of a piece of material with castor oil on it, that you can apply to various parts of your body as needed):
1. Drizzle castor oil on a piece of flannel or an old, soft dishtowel. Do not soak the towel.
2. Place the towel with the castor oil on it over the affected body part or liver.
3. Cover the towel with the plastic wrap (optional) and then place a heating pad or hot water bottle over it. The plastic will help you avoid staining your heating pad.
4. Rest with the pack in place for 20-30 minutes.
5. Store the pack in a Ziplock bag in the refrigerator. This pack may be reused up to 3 or 4 times.