TRUessence ESSENTIAL OILS & PAIN RELIEF

Pain Relief
Providing pain relief is one of the biggest reasons many people begin using essential oils. Essential oils can be one of the most effective and beneficial sources of pain relief, getting to the root cause of the problem with anti-spasmodic, anti-hematoma, and anti-inflammatory benefits. Pain medications only mask or cover up the discomfort, while essential oils go to the root source of the pain – thereby promoting full and complete recovery, rather than just masking symptoms.

One of the powerful early studies investigating essential oils’ ability to relieve pain occurred in Germany in 1996 at the University of Kiel.  It attempted to verify the effectiveness of traditional use of peppermint oil for relief of tension headaches.  This was the first randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study investigating this type of pain.  41 patients were tested, each during 4 different headache episodes.  Some groups received 1000 mg of acetaminophen (i.e. Tylenol), some received topical application of a 10% peppermint oil solution and some received an inactive placebo oil.  For the oil, application was made across the forehead and on the temples.  Results showed that peppermint oil – unlike the placebo – “significantly reduced the clinical headache intensity already after 15 minutes.” And even more surprising, “There was no significant difference between the efficacy of 1,000 mg of acetaminophen and the 10% peppermint solution.”1  Given the known negative side effects of overuse of acetaminophen and the nontoxic nature of peppermint, this opens up a real solution for pain relief.  Other research has shown that when the peppermint is combined with eucalyptus, the effect is not so much pain relief but a concurrent increase in cognitive performance, mental relaxation and muscle relation.2

In 2002 at the Pain Management Centre of the University College of London Hospitals investigated the effect of peppermint oil on one of the most difficult human pain problems: post herpetic neuralgia.  This is the medical term for the pain that accompanies shingles.  Shingles is simply the re-emergence of the herpes zoster virus after having stayed dormant from an earlier attack of chicken pox.  The pain that accompanies it is severe.  In this particular study, doctors encountered a 76-year old woman who for some reason did not respond to common pharmaceutical pain remedies.  In an effort to find some form of relief for the woman, doctors prescribed neat (undiluted) peppermint oil applied to the pain areas.  This resulted in “an almost immediate improvement in her pain, which persisted for 4-6 hours after application.  This form of pain relief worked very well for her for two months until the analgesia healed.3

In 2004 a study was published in England summarizing results of using aromatherapy during labor for over 8,000 women over an eight year period.  Of those receiving essential oils for relief of anxiety and fear, 50% of mothers and midwives found it helpful and ranked rose oil most effective (71%) followed by lavender (50%).  Of those receiving essential oils for relief of pain, frankincense was rated most helpful (64%) followed by lavender 54%).4

In a fascinating test with laboratory rats, Italian researchers at the University of Siena, Italy, diffused lemon oil in the rat cages for 2 weeks and then administered a variety of tests of anxiety state, hormonal state and neuronal response.  In both sexes, this treatment reduced anxiety, raised pain (nociceptive) thresholds, and lowered corticosterone levels over those of the control rats.  Certain types of pain were reduced more in females than in males.5

Japanese researchers in Fukuoka, Japan, tested the pain-relieving properties of essential oils on mice using a capsaicin-induced pain test.  The oils of bergamot, clary sage, thyme linalool and lavender were tested by injecting them into the hindpaw of the mice.  They found the pain response “was significantly reduced” by the application of these oils.  They concluded that linalool and linalyl acetate, oxygenated derivatives of primary monoterpenes in the essential oils were the key pain-relieving agents.6

Also, multiple studies have investigated the use of lavender aromatherapy following surgery as a supplement to opioid medication (morphine).  Consistently, “significantly more patients in the control group required analgesics for postoperative pain,” while those patients receiving lavender treatments “required significantly less morphine . . . than the control patients.”7

1. Gobel H, et al. “[Effectiveness of Oleum menthae piperitae and paracetamol in therapy of headache of the tension type].” Nervenartzt 1996 Aug;67(8):672-81
2. Gobel H, Schmidt G, Soyka D. “Effect of peppermint and eucalyptus oil preparations on neurophysiological and experimental algesimeteric headach parameters.” Cephalalgia 1994 Jun;14(3):228-34.
3. Davies SJ, Harding LM, Baranowski AP. “A novel treatement of postherpetic neuralgia using peppermint oil,” Clinical Journal of Pain 2002 May-Jun;18(3):200-2.
4. Simikin P, Bolding A. “Update on nonpharmacologic Approaches to Relieve Labor Pain and Prevent Suffering.” Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health 2004;49(6).
5. Ceccarelli I, et al. “Effects of long-term exposure of lemon essential oil odor on behavioral, hormonal and neuronal parameters in male and female rats.” Brain Res 2004 Mar 19;1001(1-2):78-86.
6. Sakurada T, et al. “Intraplantar injection of bergamot essential oil into the mouse hindpaw: effects on capsaicin-induced nociceptive behaviors.” Int Rev Neurobiol 2009;85:237-48.
7. Kim JT, et al. “Treatment with lavender aromatherapy in the post-anesthesia care unit reduces opioid requirements of morbidly obese patients undergoing laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.” Obes Surg 2007 Jul;17(7):920-5.