Newbies Guide To Dit Da Jow
If you are reading this article then you are not familiar with Dit Da Jow. The newbies guide to Dit Da Jow will give you a basic understanding of what Dit Da Jow is and how it can benefit you. Lets start with a question asked all the time.
What Is Dit Da Jow?
Dit Da Jow is an external herbal liniment based on over a thousand years of Traditional Chinese Medicine know how and can be traced back to the original Shaolin Temple. The primary purpose at least initially was to use Dit Da Jow to heal injuries sustained during martial arts training. injuries like bruises, contusions, sprains and other trauma type injuries were healed quickly Dit Da Jow.
Over centuries of use we have found that Dit Da Jow can be used for a variety of other medical issues which we will discuss in this article.
The word Dit Da Jow is actually a word that is Cantonese and not Chinese (Mandarin) and the word Jow sort of evolved over time from the Chinese word Jiu , when translated means liquor, spirits or wine. In Chinese “Die Da Yao” means liniment and “Die Da Sun Shang” means an injury from a fall or strike like a contusion or sprain.
Back close to a thousand years ago they used an internal formula to help with injuries called Die Da Jiu in Chinese Mandarin and when translated to English it means “fall hit wine”. Over time the name evolved to Dit Da Jow as martial arts from Hong Kong became very popular here in the West and this liniment was used daily to treat all the bumps and bruises from training.
Dit Da Jow as we know it today is strictly external and is applied several times a day to heal a trauma related injury. There are several types of liniments all referred to as Dit Da Jow but in actuality they are used for different conditions or activities.
Important Distinctions To Be Aware Of
One such liniment is Iron Palm, this is used to heal or strengthen bones, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue. But it is called Dit Da Jow on various websites. It really is not for bruises, contusions, sprains and such, while it might help a little, that is not its intention.
When purchasing Dit Da Jow make sure you read carefully what it is actually for. Is it just for bruises or sprains or is it for strengthening bones and tendons. There are some Dit Da Jow liniments that do a little of both.
Depending on your needs you might only need one or the other and not both. Depending on the herbal formulation a formula that states it covers everything might not be able to so review it carefully and ask questions if you are not sure.
A lot of you are familiar with Tiger Balm or Ben Gay, these are not Dit Da Jow or Iron Palm and do not heal bruises or sprains. They do a great job of warming up the area they are applied on and really should not be used on fresh injuries especially if there is swelling involved. That is why it is important to know the herbal properties of a specific formula which we will discuss below.
Properties
Since this is a newbies guide to Dit Da Jow we will keep it simple and refer all the liniments as Dit Da Jow. Traditional Dit Da Jow as described above is to help heal trauma type injuries like bruises, contusions, sprains etc. Each herb used in these traditional external liniments has a distinctive property Cold, Neutral, Warm and Hot.
So when treating a fresh injury like a bruise or sprain it is best to use a Dit Da Jow that is close to neutral in properties especially if swelling is involved. A warm to hot liniment can actually cause more swelling and discomfort since it brings to much blood to quickly to the injured area and in my opinion should be avoided until there is no swelling and minimal pain.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine when a trauma injury occurs there is what is called blood stagnation or blood stasis which quite simply means the blood flow has been disrupted. When this occurs using a cold to neutral formula is recommended since a warm to hot liniment will force more blood to flow into an area that has restricted movement causing more pain.
Some Dit Da Jow have very warm to hot properties which is ideal for different types of training, conditioning and certain chronic problems but not for fresh injuries. So choose wisely depending on your needs.
Other Important Benefits of Dit Da Jow
Besides treating trauma type injuries Dit Da Jow has been found to be very effective for treating sore muscles after workouts. The acronym “DOMS” or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is what you feel usually the next day after a hard workout or if it has been awhile since you exercised those muscles.
Weight training is not the only way to have DOMS, it could be from body weight workouts, yoga, hiking etc. Anytime you tax the muscles you can feel sore, applying Dit Da Jow when you feel sore speeds up the healing process by repairing those muscle micro-tears quickly. This is a lot safer than taking NSAIDS ( nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) which can harm the liver and cause gastrointestinal problems.
Dit Da Jow has been used for the following:
- Bruises
- Sprains
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Poor Circulation
- Raynauds Symptoms
- Muscle Pain
- VaricoseVeins
- Shin Splints
As you can see you do not need to be involved in martial arts or athletics to benefit from Dit Da Jow.
How is Dit Da Jow Sold?
Dit Da Jow is available in a couple of ways. The most popular and economical way is purchasing it in kit form to make at home. This consists of a packet of herbs added into a glass jar followed by alcohol generally Vodka or Gin. As the herbs soak they release all the healing compounds into the alcohol, after 4 weeks or so you can start using.
This is very easy to produce and just requires you to shake the jar a couple of times per day for the first 3-4 weeks. You generally can produce over one gallon of liniment with one of these Dit Da Jow kits.
Another way is purchasing ready made Dit Da Jow, this is more expensive as the size of the bottle is usually 2 to 4 ounces. When purchasing ready made Dit Da Jow always purchase your liniment in glass bottles if possible. Plastic chemicals can leach out into liniment when you mix alcohol and the herbs together. If you ever have purchased an internal herbal tincture extract, you probably noticed all the bottles are glass and not plastic for the very reason I mentioned.
When purchasing a ready made Jow make sure the alcohol used is distilled and not over 60 percent alcohol. Some liniments sold use rubbing alcohol which is not recommended due to potential toxicity issues. Alcohol content over 60 percent evaporates to fast when applied on the skin not permitting the Dit Da Jow to be absorbed properly.
The last way to purchase Dit Da Jow is in an internal form it is sold in pill form (ChinKoo) and is usually used in conjunction with the external liniment to help speed up chronic issues or post operative procedures like arthroscopic surgery.
To recap, decide on the type of liniment needed, do you need it for bruises, sprains, sore muscles or do you need a liniment that is for the tendons, ligaments and bones. After you decide that determine if you wish to make your own with a kit or purchase a ready made liniment.