Royal Desmodium:
Nature’s Answer to Muscle & Tendon Pain
By Viana Muller, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Whole World Botanicals
Every botanical we offer at Whole World Botanicals has its own story of how we found it. The story of Royal Desmodium — known in Peru as Amor Seco and in the Caribbean as Strong Back Herb — is one of the most compelling of them all.
The Whole World Botanicals Vision
I started our company with the help of Elena Rojas Martinez, a Peruvian midwife, in 1995 because I became passionately interested in natural medicine as a way to restore my own health while recovering from a serious illness. So many founders of natural products companies can share a similar story.
From the beginning, I knew I wanted to offer only a few products that would be highly effective, at a potency that would make a significant difference in how people were feeling, very quickly. I felt we could not offer 50 or 100 different botanicals because it would take a lifetime to discover the many uses of these plants and the best ways to use them. Besides, introducing an unknown botanical is a major marketing challenge, one ill-suited to a small company whose founders had no business background.
We were a cultural anthropologist with a keen interest in native people’s medicine (that’s me) and a Peruvian (that’s Elena) with deep roots in natural medicine through her paternal grandmother, who was a traditional bone-setter and laying-on-of-hands healer, and her own mother, Anita — a Quechua-speaking Indian woman from the Sierra of Peru. Doña Anita used to take her little Elena with her on trips to gather the healing herbs found growing wild in the foothills of the Andes.
The Botanical Revelation of the Belize Trip
Our journey with Royal Desmodium began with my reading the account of a women’s medicine physician practicing in Venice, California, who made a trip to Belize to discover healing native plants. Together with a small group of other health care professionals, she set off on a trek through the jungle to see the medicinal plants in their native habitat, collect some for drying, and later take them home.
They returned from their trek exhausted and aching all over.
“Would you like to try a tea that will relieve you very quickly of your aches and pains?” their host asked.
“Yes!” they all chorused.
Their host served cups of hot Desmodium tea to all of them. It was mild tasting — pleasant, in fact. Within less than an hour, the doctor felt tremendous relief, was very relaxed, and had no more muscle pain, either that day or the next. It was a dramatic change.
“In less than an hour, the doctor felt tremendous relief, very relaxed, and no more muscle pain…It was a dramatic change.”
How We Found Desmodium in Peru
When I read this account, I had a strong feeling that we needed this botanical in our repertory—but did it grow in Peru? I excitedly got on the phone with Sydney (Professor Sydney McDaniel), the third co-founder of Whole World Botanicals, and an expert botanist of the Upper Amazon, who collected more plants for testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture than any other botanist. I asked him if it grew in Peru.
“Oh yes,” he replied. “It’s not hard to find.”
Dr. McDaniel sent me a sample to try with friends and acquaintances who were experiencing muscle and tendon pain from exercise or injury. The early results were encouraging — but then came the personal confirmation that settled the matter entirely.
A Founder's Surgery
Around that time, Elena sustained a rotator cuff injury in her right shoulder and needed to have surgery. The doctor warned her that the recovery would be very painful. During the two days she was in the hospital, she was given morphine, which gave her practically no relief and just made her feel dizzy. (Different people react very differently to morphine.) She returned home with no effective medicine for the pain.
“Let’s try this new tea we got from Peru,” I said.
Her response came within 40 minutes of drinking the tea. It reduced her pain by about 50%! And that was all she took for pain relief for the whole following week. It kept her pain at a manageable level.
That was the personal confirmation we needed to decide to make this unique, effective plant available to people here in the U.S.
An Easy Decision
What we can say with confidence — from decades of experience, from the accounts of our customers, and from the original experience of that Belizean trek — is that Royal Desmodium is one of the most remarkable and versatile plants we have ever had the privilege of bringing to market. We offer it at a potency designed to make a real difference, quickly. That has always been the Whole World Botanicals promise, and Royal Desmodium delivers on it.
It was only later that we discovered Royal Desmodium’s tremendously positive effect on the lungs. (But that’s a fascinating story I’ll share with you another time.)
Royal Desmodium
Whole World Botanicals authentic wildcrafted Royal Desmodium:
- Relieves muscle pain from exercise, overexertion, or injury — usually within 40–60 minutes
- Supports tendon recovery (e.g., rotator cuff injury)
- Therapeutic potency works fast — Elena experienced about a 50% reduction in pain within 40 minutes of her first cup of tea!
- Mild and pleasant to take — described as a gentle-tasting tea and liquid extract
This remarkable plant, used by traditional healers for generations, is available to you from Whole World Botanicals.
In March, get 20% off MSRP for all Royal Desmodium products!
