Naturally manage your aches and pain using these top 5 effective essential oils for pain.
Pain can be difficult to live with. In fact, suffering from pain can often reduce one’s quality of life significantly. If we’re in pain, we usually take over-the-counter pain medication, but those are only temporary. If we live from chronic pain due to an underlying medical condition, then we see our primary doctor for a prescription to stronger pain relievers.
Unfortunately, medications aren’t always the answer when it comes to pain. Almost all medications come with uncomfortable side effects which can only exacerbate the stress and anxiety associated with pain:
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Depression
- Sweating
- Stomach pain
- Trouble breathing
- Addiction
Addiction to pain medication is the scariest of all the symptoms. Those who suffer from chronic pain often take over-the-counter or prescription pain medication every day. Unfortunately, at some point, the medication starts to lose its effectiveness. People end up taking more of the recommended dosage because they feel it’s not working anymore. This could lead to dependence on the medication. People will go into their doctor and demand a higher dosage, start mixing medications, or self-medicate. This could lead to abuse, overdose, and, eventually, death.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to pain medications. Taking essential oils for pain is a natural alternative to increasing one’s quality of life. It’s not recommended to stop taking pain medications cold turkey, but patients should consult with their doctor about reducing the dosage while making natural lifestyle changes. There is a large selection of essential oils to complement (and eventually replace) the need for pain medications while making necessary lifestyle changes. Many of these oils pair together well in essential oil blend recipes. While there’s a laundry list of essential oils one could use for pain, listing them all would have us here all day, so let’s take a look at the top 5 essential oils for pain.
Lemongrass Oil
Lemongrass oil mainly pairs well with other oils in essential oil blend recipes but, on its own, acts as a pain reliever to help relieve inflammation. If someone’s pain isn’t topical, lemongrass oil can also be used for fevers or stomach issues, making it one of the best versatile essential oils for pain. Blending lemongrass oil with other essential oils such as peppermint can help reduce arthritis pain and swelling. Another useful combination to add to one’s book of essential oil blend recipes is lemongrass oil and mint to help relieve headaches.
Ginger Oil
When it comes to medicinal uses, ginger has been around for some time to treat everything from nausea to migraines. That’s why it’s not surprising it’s used as one of the more effective essential oils to manage pain. Much like lemongrass oil, ginger oil is another one to use for effective inflammation relief. Ginger itself is anti-inflammatory and has been used medicinally as such for thousands of years. Taking ginger oil has the surprising effect of preventing weight gain, leading to more inflammation and pain.
Clary Sage Oil
Clary sage is a lesser-known oil and typically doesn’t come in basic essential oil packs. However, it is one of the best essential oils for pain because it takes care of both the mind and body. Adding clary sage oil to an essential oil blend recipe such as clary sage oil and ginger oil brings the best out of both oils. Clary sage helps work the mind by reducing any stress and anxiety that can make the pain worse. When someone suffers from the pain, they normally have a spike in blood pressure, leading to anxiety. This combination only leads to an endless cycle of uncomfortable physiological symptoms.
Black Seed Oil
Black seed oil, otherwise known as black cumin, also helps reduce inflammation. Black seed oil is one of the better essential oils for pain because it reduces high blood pressure, improves symptoms of arthritis, decreases the inflammatory symptoms of asthma, and even helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Black seed oil is also versatile in its uses as it can be used in an essential oil blend, added onto food, or taken with a drink. High blood pressure is an especially important symptom to take care of as chronic hypertension can lead to heart disease. Decreasing inflammation is good for the heart, brain, and digestive system.
Lavender Oil
Many believe lavender oil to be the best essential oil for pain relief. The reason why many use lavender oil for pain is, it helps tackle pain from different angles. One of the most effective ways to manage pain is by getting plenty of sleep. Many people often overlook sleep as a natural pain reliever because that’s when the body has time to recover and repair itself. Lavender oil helps those who suffer from insomnia or other sleep issues get the quality of sleep their bodies need to repair themselves. Lavender oil is also great for lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, and managing stress. If that’s not enough to sell lavender oil as an effective essential oil for pain relief, then it’s also anti-inflammatory as well as an analgesic. An analgesic is a pain-relieving substance that interacts with the central nervous system to relieve symptoms of pain. That’s what makes lavender oil an almost perfect essential oil for both physical and mental health.
These 5 essential oils can be used separately or added into an essential oil blend recipe to bring out the most benefits from each oil. Whether you’re mixing ginger and lavender or lemongrass and clary sage, you’ll finally find peace from the pain and a better quality of life.
References:
Han, X., & Parker, T. L. (2017). Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) essential oil demonstrated anti-inflammatory effect in pre-inflamed human dermal fibroblasts. Biochimie open, 4, 107–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopen.2017.03.004
Yang, H. J., Kim, K. Y., Kang, P., Lee, H. S., & Seol, G. H. (2014). Effects of Salvia sclarea on chronic immobilization stress induced endothelial dysfunction in rats. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 14, 396. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-396
Tavakkoli, A., Mahdian, V., Razavi, B. M., & Hosseinzadeh, H. (2017). Review on Clinical Trials of Black Seed (Nigella sativa ) and Its Active Constituent, Thymoquinone. Journal of pharmacopuncture, 20(3), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.3831/KPI.2017.20.021
Lillehei, A. S., Halcón, L. L., Savik, K., & Reis, R. (2015). Effect of Inhaled Lavender and Sleep Hygiene on Self-Reported Sleep Issues: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 21(7), 430–438. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2014.0327
