Lower back pain is one of the most frequently occurring health conditions that can affect you at any point in your lifetime. Backaches are common to every generation and every occupation, whether you are an employee doing a desk job, a school-going child carrying heavy bags, a person doing standard house chores, or an elderly person facing health deterioration and several muscular-skeletal issues. Sometimes, your back pain can be easily treated by rest, changing posture, and taking painkillers but mostly these problems become difficult to treat and may require intense medical therapies in hope of complete relief. But the good news is, you can get rid of your lower back pain, whether it is acute or chronic, by the simple application of some extremely important and beneficial lower back pain creams which contain essential oils.
Do Essential Oils Really Work?
You may be wondering whether these naturally produced and extracted oils really work and provide an alternative to pharmaceutical medicines. In today’s fast-paced world, when everyone is relying on medicines for easy and quick relief, it may be difficult for you to shift your belief from ingesting bitter tasting, but fast working pills to inhaling or applying aromatic essential oils, which may take longer to help (but provide longer lasting results). But you would be surprised to see that now medical researchers have proven the benefits of these oils and the miracles they can do to relieve your lower back pain, inflammation, and muscle spasms1.
What can be the Reason behind your Backache?
Backache can result from a number of complications such as herniated disc, fractures, disc degeneration, bulging back discs, or maybe simply because of bad posture and logging many hours on the cellphone (this generation's disease). Whatever the reason behind your pain, a large number of herbal alternatives are readily available to provide you soothing effects and ease from your discomfort. Most people who see the word ‘Disc Problem’ think that there is no choice but to either have surgery or choose another invasive alternative. But there is another way. There are quite a number of essential oils that can help relieve the pain of any one of the disc issues. The beauty of using essential oils is that they can be used in different ways (diffusing, inhaling, and on the skin) and do not cause side effects, if used as directed. Even if you suffer from disc degeneration or bulging disc, treating these nasty types of lower back pain with essential oils can actually be quite effective.
Pine, Thyme, Rosemary and Citrus Oils for Lower Back Pain
Essential oils are derived from the leaves, bark, flowers or fruit peels of many different kinds of trees and plants. Each one has a characteristic fragrance, various medicinal properties and therapeutic effects. Some scientifically proven and most widely used oils are discussed briefly. Have a look at them:
Pine Essential Oil
Pine oil is essentially important for its anti-inflammatory properties. Besides this, a study reveals the anti-oxidant property of pine oil that is crucially important for the prevention of disc degeneration and no disc degeneration means no more lower backache2.
Thyme Essential Oil
Thyme oil also comes with many therapeutic benefits including anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and antimicrobial effects. It even has been found to have antispasmodic activity on gastrointestinal tract tissues. Thymol, an important ingredient found exclusively in thyme oil, is known to relieve pain and muscles spasm and thus, equally beneficial for healing back problems3.
Rosemary Essential Oil
Rosemary oil is one of the best essential oils for dealing with pain caused by herniated disc4. It has been shown to alleviate arthritic pain in rats; it has anti-inflammatory activity, is antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, antirheumatic, antispasmodic and even increases circulation. Creams containing rosemary oil are clinically proven beneficial for arthritis and menstrual cramps.
Grapefruit, Mandarin, Lemongrass
Grapefruit oil, Mandarin/Tangerine oil, and Lemongrass oil are all anti-inflammatories thanks to the high amount of d-limonene in them. They are also great stress relievers for the same reason. Also, you can beat your back pain by using these herbal gifts by nature as they are strong analgesics. Mandarin oil is a fantastic anti-spasmodic, great for muscle spasms and Lemongrass is also known to help repair damaged musculoskeletal tissues and improve circulation, thereby reducing inflammation.
You will be glad to know that serious lower backache due to disc bulge can also be controlled and calmed by essential oils like Peppermint oil and Lavender oil as they both have analgesic properties and are both anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic.
Pain due to arthritis and disc degeneration is very common and you or someone you know may have also faced it. Try a cream containing Ginger oil which is used in traditional medicine for relief of pain and inflammation. Ginger's benefits for arthritis are now proven by clinical trials too5.
Being rich in flavonoids, rutent, and other potent anti-oxidants, Juniper berry oil, applied in a carrier oil or cream is one of the best alternatives for spasm and inflammation-related lower back pain6.
Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil is a favorite oil for many centuries due to its wide uses in therapeutic, commercial, and nutritional products. Tea tree oil has anti-inflammatory properties and is both antispasmodic and an analgesic. As such it is a great treatment option available for swelling due to disc bulges, inflammation due to a herniated disc, and other conditions that are responsible for chronic lower back pain.
How to get the maximum benefit from Essential oils?
So, now that you understand more about some of the important oils that, in reality, are plant extracts and have nature-gifted powers and benefits, it is important to understand how these natural oils work and how to get the maximum benefit from them. One way to enjoy the benefits of essential oils is by inhaling them directly or via a diffuser. They can also be inhaled via an inhaler – a plastic tube-shaped container which holds a cotton wick, soaked in essential oils. The most convenient and efficient way to reap their maximum benefits for pains in the back, muscles or joints and with minimum to no side effects, is in the form of ointments and creams. These oils are mixed in a base cream or lotion which can then be applied directly to the back, joints or muscles.
Why Essential Oils Offers Best Alternative to medicines?
No doubt, creams, and ointments containing essential oils and Dead Sea minerals offer real advantages over traditional oral drugs, medicines and invasive treatments. When suffering from lower back pain issues, your best bet would be to start with high quality, natural creams which contain healing Dead Sea minerals and powerful essential oils, such as the ones outlined in this article. These ingredients are rich in anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic characteristics that make them a winner solution for back problems. Thus, to fight spasms, disc conditions, muscle soreness, and many degenerative problems, try TerraCure natural creams which are rich in Dead Sea minerals and essential oils and look forward to true relief from lower back pain.
References
- Lakhan, S. E., Sheafer, H., & Tepper, D. (2016). The effectiveness of aromatherapy in reducing pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain research and treatment, 2016.
- Xie, K., Miles, E. A., & Calder, P. C. (2016). A review of the potential health benefits of pine nut oil and its characteristic fatty acid pinolenic acid. Journal of Functional Foods, 23, 464-473.
- Beer, A. M., Lukanov, J., & Sagorchev, P. (2007). Effect of Thymol on the spontaneous c0ontractile activity of the smooth muscles. Phytomedicine, 14(1), 65-69.
- Raskovic, A., Milanovic, I., Pavlovic, N., Milijasevic, B., Ubavic, M., & Mikov, M. (2015). Analgesic effects of rosemary essential oil and its interactions with codeine and paracetamol in mice. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci, 19(1), 165-172.
- Funk, J. L., Frye, J. B., Oyarzo, J. N., Chen, J., Zhang, H., & Timmermann, B. N. (2016). Anti-inflammatory effects of the essential oils of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) in experimental rheumatoid arthritis. PharmaNutrition, 4(3), 123-131.
- Enogieru, A. B., Haylett, W., Hiss, D. C., Bardien, S., & Ekpo, O. E. (2018). Rutin as a potent antioxidant: Implications for neurodegenerative disorders. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2018..