Sore muscles are something that many of us deal with from time to time, and suffering from sore muscles can be mildly irritating or downright miserable. Fortunately, there are some easy at-home ways to help gain relief from sore muscles, including using essential oils as part of a dedicated massage routine.
Our guide gives you details on how essential oils can help sore muscles and the best essential oils to use when you need relief from an aching muscle.
How Do Essential Oils Help Sore Muscles?
When thinking about how essential oils can help sore muscles, it’s important to keep in mind the root cause behind a sore muscle. In most cases, sore muscles are caused by micro-tears in the muscle fiber that occur due to overexertion or other minor injury. Inflammation occurs soon after, leading to swelling, aches, and pains in the muscle. One of the best ways to help reduce this inflammation and soreness is to increase blood flow and circulation to the area, speeding up healing and diminishing soreness.
Essential oils can help sore muscles as many of them carry benefits when applied topically. You can combine the helpful benefits of certain essential oils with massage to reduce the pain in a sore muscle and promote healing. Plus, many essential oils have a soothing aroma that can help you relax.
The Best Essential Oils for Sore Muscles
There are many different kinds of essential oils around today that can potentially help you relieve sore muscles. We give you an overview of some of the best and most popular essential oils to use for sore muscles below.
Birch Oil
Crafted from the birch tree, birch essential oil has a relaxing and woodsy scent in addition to notable anti-inflammatory properties. When used topically as part of massage, these properties can help soothe muscles and decrease swelling.
Eucalyptus Oil
Eucalyptus oil has a very distinct aroma, and this oil is known for its anti-inflammatory properties and its ability to increase circulation. When rubbed gently into this skin, this oil can help reduce swelling and improve blood flow, leading to a reduction in soreness or muscle aches.
Frankincense Oil
In addition to a very rich and soothing aroma, frankincense oil boasts anti-inflammatory properties, pain relieving properties, and immune system-boosting powers. Using this oil on your skin can encourage quick healing and less swelling around sore muscles.
Lavender Oil
Lavender essential oil is notable for having a soothing, calming aroma, and this aroma can lead to a decrease in stress and anxiety. When used topically, this essential oil can reduce pain and swelling in addition to soothing skin.
Sandalwood Oil
Sandalwood oil has a more exotic aroma, and it is especially soothing when blended with lavender or frankincense. This oil has been shown to alleviate muscle spasms, tension, and pain, making it a great choice for sore and aching muscles.
What Carrier Oil Should I Use for Sore Muscles?
When using essential oils for sore muscles, you will need to properly dilute your essential oils by mixing them with a carrier oil. This is something that makes them safe to use and allows you to gain benefits from the oils without them irritating your skin.
We recommend using carrier oils such as the following for sore muscles:
- Arnica Cream or Oil – Arnica is a powerful pain-relieving plant, and you can create your own infused oil by adding arnica essential oil into olive oil. You may also want to use arnica cream as a base for mixing your essential oils.
- Coconut Oil – This skin-friendly oil is soothing and moisturizing in addition to nourishing your skin, making it a great base for a massage oil.
- Jojoba Oil – Another skin-nourishing oil, jojoba oil is a great carrier oil and is considered one of the best carrier oils for muscle relaxation.
- Argan Oil – Argan oil stimulates skin regeneration and is overall healthy for skin, allowing your body to feel good as you massage away sore muscles.
Make sure that you patch-test your carrier oil and essential oil blend before rubbing it all over your skin, and take the time to mix and match your favorite sore muscle essential oils to gain the best benefits.
Soothing Sore Muscles With Essential Oil
Essential oils are a powerful component of many massage oil blends, and you can create your own sore muscle massage oil blend at home using a skin-friendly carrier oil and any of our selections for essential oils that relieve sore muscles. Make sure that your essential oils are diluted correctly before application, then take the time to breathe deeply and let out your stress as you massage away sore and aching muscles.
Lynn Martelli is an editor at Readability. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and has worked as an editor for over 10 years. Lynn has edited a wide variety of books, including fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, and more. In her free time, Lynn enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her family and friends.
