Back and neck pain is something that most of us will all experience at some point our lives.
Using essential oils for back and neck pain is a holistic way to treat that pain.
Check out my guide to the best essential oils for back and neck pain plus how to use them for the greatest effect. Whether you experience back and neck pain from exercise or arthritis, give essential oils a try to help relieve your symptoms.
How Essential Oils Help Relieve Back and Neck Pain
Essential oils can relieve back and neck pain in two ways:
- Aromatherapy
- Permeating the skin
To begin with, essential oils utilize aromatherapy to provide many wellness benefits including easing back and neck pain. Aromatherapy is so effective because it utilizes your sense of smell. Your sense of smell is one of your body’s most sensitive senses.
When you smell an essential oil, it immediately stimulates your central nervous system and limbic system. The limbic system is the part of the brain that controls feelings. Therefore, using essential oils is one way to directly impact the feelings area of your brain.
Also, essential oils can permeate your skin to relieve pain. Applying them topically has many benefits related to helping relieve pain including:
- Reducing tension
- Minimizing swelling and inflammation
- Promoting relaxation
Overall, essential oils directly stimulate your brain and body to provide many benefits including back and neck pain relief.
How to Use Essential Oils for Back and Neck Pain
There are a couple of ways you can use essential oils for aromatherapy and penetrating the skin. Each of these methods helps to relieve back and neck pain.
Here are a few ways to use essential oils to reduce back and neck pain:
- Diffusing
- Inhaling
- Adding to bath
- Applying topically
- Massaging
Importantly, use a carrier oil if you apply the essential oils to your body. Adding the oils to your bath, applying them topically, or massaging with them all involve skin contact. Mix every 3 drops of essential oil with at least 1 teaspoon of a carrier oil. A carrier oil could be coconut, olive, or vegetable oil.
1. Marjoram Oil
Marjoram is a plant within the mint plant family. It has been cultivated for thousands of years in Southern Europe. The ancient Greeks and Romans saw it as a symbol of happiness and well understood its body soothing properties.
Today, marjoram is a very popular essential oil. Because of its soothing properties, most people use it for either massages or topically. But, it can also be used for aromatherapy.
Marjoram can help relieve back and neck pain by helping your muscles relax. Use it to help your back and neck muscles by:
- Applying it to your back and neck before bed
- Applying it to your back and neck before exercise
- Massaging it over your back and neck areas
2. Yarrow Oil
Next, Yarrow oil is one of the best and most well known essential oils to relieve back and neck pain. In fact, legends say that the Greek mythology character, Achilleas, carried the yarrow plant into battle with him in order to help treat pain on the battlefield.
Yarrow oil helps relieve pain in a couple of ways including:
- Reducing inflammation
- Relaxing muscles
- Improving blood flow
In order to get the most out of yarrow oil, mix a few drops of it with a teaspoon of coconut oil. Then, lightly massage it all over your back and neck when you begin to feel pain.
3. Eucalyptus Oil
Eucalyptus is most commonly known to help clear out your airways when you’re congested. However, it also has many cooling properties to help sooth a sore back or neck.
Particularly, if you have arthritis in your neck or back, the cooling effects of eucalyptus can be especially helpful. You can apply it topically to areas of pain along with a carrier oil in order to feel a cooling sensation. Or, you can add a few drops of it to a damp towel and lay the towel on your back and neck.
Additionally, the cooling effects of eucalyptus can help to ease your pains if you have:
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
4. Lavender Oil
Lavender oil is a multipurpose oil. It is used for everything from promoting better sleep, relieving headaches, and of course treating back and neck pain. The reason it is able to do so is because of its calming properties
In one study, the calming properties of lavender oil were shown to alleviate muscle pain as well as pain due to headaches.
A fun way to use lavender oil to calm your back and neck is to make a homemade lavender body butter. Give this recipe a try:
Ingredients:
- 16 oz. lavender butter
- 6 mL lavender essential oil
- 1 16 oz. jar
Combine these ingredients together and then rub on your back and neck for calming effects. As a result, you will overall feel less pain.
5. Rosemary Oil
Rosemary oil is best known for adding delicious flavor to some of our favorite foods. It’s also great to help relieve back and neck pain.
In one study, people who had shoulder pain used rosemary aromatherapy to see if it could help alleviate their symptoms. As a result, the people who used rosemary oil had significantly decreased pain compared to those who didn’t use the oil. They also had improved motor skills in their shoulders following the aromatherapy sessions.
This experiment demonstrates the different ways that rosemary oil can help relieve pain including:
- Reducing joint inflammation
- Increasing blood circulation
Holistically Improve Back and Neck Pain With Essential Oils
All you have to do to get the benefits of essential oils is breath them in deeply or rub them on your body. Not only will these top essential oils help alleviate your back and neck pain, but they’re a great way to indulge in self care.
For a pain treatment that doesn’t involve over the counter medicines or physical therapy, give essential oils a try.
