While essential oils and aromatherapy smell very nice, I’ll bet you didn’t know that some can treat pain from things like osteoarthritis, or even combat cancer.
Lavendar Oil
In a study involving 90 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences found that the pain severity of the patients went down significantly after their initial massage with lavender oil. They also measured the patients pain again at the 1 week mark which also had promising results for relief.
Overall, the study concluded that massage with lavender oil was indeed an effective form of pain relief for patients with osteoarthritis.
Tea Tree Oil
While certainly not as gentle as lavender oil, tea tree oil can be a serious antimicrobial and antifungal substance. In fact, SGT University conducted a study where they used tea tree oil to try and destroy P.gingivalis, a perio-pathogen which is responsible for periodontitis and gingivitis.
It was found that the tea tree oil was indeed effective and could be used to treat the diseases caused by P.gingivalis.
Peppermint Oil
Pruritus is the most common skin problem, but it’s only a fancy way to say, “itchy skin”. Sometimes though, pruritus can be chronic and require some sort of treatment. Thankfully, a study was conducted to test the idea of using peppermint oil to reduce this annoying condition. They found when peppermint oil was applied topically it was effective and a more acceptable form of treatment than other irritating systemic treatments.
Eucalyptus Oil
Eucalyptus has been such an effective natural medicine for so long, it even appears in a number of over-the-counter medicines that treat congestion. The effects of eucalyptus oil are much greater than a mere decongestant according to this abstract from Cairo University. They conducted an experiment similar to the tea tree oil where they essentially diffused the eucalyptus oil in a dish with various problem causing things.
This test found that not only was eucalyptus oil an antimicrobial, but it was also an antitumor. They concluded that eucalyptus oil needs to be further explored as a pharmaceutical.