It’s summertime! And with the beautiful sunny weather comes lawn work, sports, gardening, and other outdoor activities that can lead to overexertion. Whether caused by hours of planting tomatoes or the aftermath of sliding into home plate, tight and sore muscles can happen to the best of us. Fortunately, Mother Nature has given us some natural gifts for relieving the inflammation and pain associated with overworked muscles. 

Essential Oils for Muscle Pain

Below I’ve listed three essential oils for alleviating minor muscle discomfort. They can be very effective when blended, diluted, and applied topically to ease inflammation and pain. 

Wintergreen Essential Oil 

Wintergreen essential oil contains 85-99 percent methyl salicylate, the same component in aspirin. In fact, wintergreen and birch are the only plants in the world with naturally occurring methyl salicylate. Wintergreen absorbs into the skin quickly and has a numbing effect, providing nearly instant pain relief.

Wintergreen’s Botanical Name: Gaultheria Procumbens

Origin: China

Rosemary Essential Oil

Rosemary oil and its compounds are known to have a therapeutic effect on muscles, helping to reduce pain and spasms. In addition to its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, it’s known to help promote overall blood circulation.

Rosemary’s Botanical Name: Rosmarinus officinalis

Origin: Spain

Eucalyptus Essential Oil

While eucalyptus oil is most associated with easing the symptoms of coughs and colds, it also has anti-inflammatory properties when applied topically. Topical ointments with eucalyptus have been used in Aboriginal medicine for thousands of years to facilitate wound healing and relieve joint pain. Studies have indicated that eucalyptol (a prominent phytochemical in eucalyptus) reduces pain and inflammation by influencing various transient receptors in the body that impact circulation and skin and muscle temperature.

Eucalyptus’s Botanical Name: Eucalyptus globulus

Origin: China

What You Need to Know Before Using Essential Oils

If muscle pain is from an injury or a systemic disease, seek medical care. If you are pregnant, nursing, or have a medical condition, check with a health professional before using essential oils. 

Be aware that applying undiluted essential oils on the skin can be harmful and potentially cause severe irritation or sensitization. According to AromaWeb, using a 2 percent essential oil dilution is generally considered a safe guideline for the topical application of essential oils on adults. For children and the elderly, the recommendation is a dilution of 1 percent. For children, use only essential oils considered safe for children. 

To make a 2 percent dilution for an adult, add 12 drops of essential oil to each fl. ounce (30 ml) of cold-pressed carrier oil (almond oil, safflower oil, etc.) or follow the manufacturer’s directions.

Have Questions About Using Our Essential Oils?

In addition to our Eucalyptus Essential Oil, we have Clarify, Invigorate, and Detox essential oil blends that combine rosemary essential oil with other anti-inflammatory, analgesic oils. We’re just an email or phone call away if you have any questions about our products, their benefits, and how to use them effectively.

Sources:

Hebert PR, Barice EJ, Hennekens CH. Treatment of low back pain: the potential clinical and public health benefits of topical herbal remedies. J Altern Complement Med. 2014 Apr;20(4):219-20. doi: 10.1089/acm.2013.0313. Epub 2013 Oct 11. PMID: 24116881; PMCID: PMC3995208.

Kopustinskiene DM, Bernatonyte U, Maslii Y, Herbina N, Bernatoniene J. Natural Herbal Non-Opioid Topical Pain Relievers-Comparison with Traditional Therapy. Pharmaceutics. 2022 Nov 29;14(12):2648. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14122648. PMID: 36559142; PMCID: PMC9785912.

Nikhil Chandorkar, Srushti Tambe, Purnima Amin, Chandu Madankar, A systematic and comprehensive review on current understanding of the pharmacological actions, molecular mechanisms, and clinical implications of the genus Eucalyptus, Phytomedicine Plus, Volume 1, Issue 4, 2021, 100089, ISSN 2667-0313, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phyplu.2021.100089.