I hurt my wrist sparring a couple of months ago, and it's still sore. I eventually went to the hospital, but all they could tell me was that there're no broken bones. They gave me a support bandage and told me not to train until I had no more pain in my wrist. A Chinese friend recommended Dit Dar Oil and gave me little bottle of it (his si-hing makes and sells it). Does anyone know if this sorta stuff is any good? It absolutely stinks, but I could put up with the smell if I thought it was doing me any good.

The ingredients listed are:
Herba Tougucao
Herba Lycopodti
Myrrha
Rhizoma Drynariae
Radix Angelicae Sinensis
Tea Oil & Sunflower Oil
Cinnamon Oil
Wintergreen Oil
Borneolum Syntheticum

If nothing else the smell fairly clears your head.

Cheers

Jonny

Is that the same thing as Dit Da Jao?

Personally, I just buy extra strength Tiger Balm (the red), and the stuff works great. There's apparently an Imperial Balm which is even stronger. O_O!

I don't know anything about herbs myself, but this is an article about dit da jow that lists some traditional ingredients. I do know that jow works for me.

http://www.wingchunkuen.com/why/columns/crescione/dragon01_ditdajow.html

i haven't tried that type, but my favorite is called "wood lock oil". like many chinese herbal products, the translation is not very informative, but it works wonders. like if you have leg and shoulder day at the gym, then have to grapple 4 hours later.

you wouldn't want to use it in acute trauma cases since it invigorates blood very strongly. white flower oil is better for that. but if it is a chronic pain or a couple of days after an injury, the wood look oil is the way to go.

but about your die da jao (kinda of a broad classification and also a name brand - leads to confusion), it seems like a good formula for post acute injury or strains (kinda difficult for me to tell since i learn the chinese herbs by their chinese names, not common english names), although it is hard to tell without the amounts of the ingredients or ratio.