DIY Ayurvedic Pain Relief Oil

Reviewed By Experts

In modern times, despite all our efforts to stay healthy, pain always finds its way into our lives. Pain is defined as any mental or physical suffering caused by diseases, sickness, or injuries. You can experience pain anywhere in your body, ranging from muscles to joints. Apart from diseases, lifestyle habits can also cause painful conditions like arthritis, sciatica, spondylosis, migraine, etc. [1]

Let’s take a look at this definition of ‘sickness’ found in ‘Charak Sthana:’

“विकारो धातुवैषम्यं, साम्यं प्रकृतिरुच्यते,

सुखसञ्ज्ञकमारोग्यं, विकारो दुःखमेव च||”

This translates to, “Any disturbance in the equilibrium of Dhatus (Tridosha, body tissues and waste products) is sickness. The state of their equilibrium is health. Happiness indicates health and pain indicates sickness.”

Ayurveda lays great emphasis on treating pain. As per Ayurveda, Vata Dosha is responsible for causing pain. All ayurvedic efforts are mostly aimed at treating that Vata Dosha to relieve a person of his pain. 

Massage or ‘Tel-maalish’ is considered one of the best ways to relieve pain. In this article, we bring you several herbal oils that alleviate pain, some of which can also be prepared at home. Let’s see what these pain-relieving herbal oils are, what their individual benefits are, and learn how to make them at home.

Ayurvedic Pain Relief Oils You Can Make at Home

1. Eucalyptus Oil

According to Ayurveda, Eucalyptus Oil is one of the best remedies for reducing pain and inflammation in the body. It is especially recommended for people experiencing back pain or those recovering from joint or muscle injury [2]. 

How To Make Eucalyptus Pain Relief Oil At Home?

1. Take ¼ cup of eucalyptus leaves, rinse them and set them aside to dry. 
2. Then start crushing the leaves with your hands to extract oil. You can also cut the leaves with a knife.
3. Next, take one cup of carrier oil like cold pressed virgin olive oil, coconut oil or almond oil. 
4. Combine the carrier oil and crushed leaves in a pot and set it on a low flame. Make sure that there is at least 1/4 cup of carrier oil resting above your leaves.
5. Let the mixture steep for about 6 hours before cooling it and straining it in a glass jar. 

Benefits of Eucalyptus Oil ^[3][4]

1. Effective in reducing pain, swelling, and inflammation in joints and muscles.
2. Effective to use post ‘Total Knee Replacement’ surgery and in chronic joint pain.
3. Has been widely used as a folk medicine to treat upper respiratory infections, migraines, gastritis, and diabetes.
4. Breathing in steam from eucalyptus helps provide relief from viral infections, such as cold, bronchiolitis, rhinosinusitis, and asthma.
5. Eucalyptus oil has been used to treat influenza infection, owing to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects.
6. Eucalyptus oil can also tackle body pain due to COVID or other viral infections.

2. Garlic Oil

Loaded with anti-inflammatory properties, garlic oil is highly beneficial for managing pain. Therefore, it is vastly used in Ayurveda for treating osteoarthritis [5][6].

How To Make Garlic Pain Relief Oil At Home?

1. Take 4 cloves of garlic and crush them.
2. Add the crushed garlic into a saucepan along with 1/2 cup of carrier oil such as olive oil, mustard oil, etc. 
3. Cook the garlic for 3 to 5 minutes on medium heat and then strain the mixture into a glass jar.

Benefits of Garlic Oil ^[7]

1. Garlic oil can be used to reduce pain and inflammation in the joints of overweight or obese women.
2. Garlic oil is used in many nutraceticals (health supplements) which are consumed to avoid specific disease states.
3. Garlic essential oil is also used to treat peptic ulcers due to its antioxidant properties.
4. Garlic oil is used to treat ringworm and athlete’s foot.

3. Camphor Oil

Camphor or Kapoor oil has been used in Ayurveda for centuries to treat acute pain conditions. It is especially considered beneficial in relieving muscle cramps [8][9].

How To Make Camphor Pain Relief Oil At Home?

1. Take one big piece of camphor in powdered form and add it to 1 cup of ‘hot but not boiling’ carrier oil. You can use coconut oil or mustard oil as the carrier oil. 
2. Allow the camphor to melt and release its pain-relieving properties in the mixture.
3. Then stir well and store in a glass jar. 

Benefits of Camphor Oil ^[10]

1. Neuropathic pain is major trouble area for a lot of people. In many neurological disorders, symptoms of hyperalgesia are observed, i.e. the patients experience more pain than usual due to changes in their nervous system’s reception of pain. Camphor oil can help alleviate these neuropathic pains.
2. Camphor reverses cold hyperalgesia in multiple neuropathic pain models.
3. Camphor has been used for centuries and throughout the world as a remedy for treating variety of symptoms such as inflammation, ingestion, infection, congestion, pain, irritation, etc.

4. Nirgundi Oil

Nirgundi oil is probably the most popular Ayurvedic oil for pain relief. It has potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties that help reduce inflammation and chronic pain [11].

How To Make Nirgundi Pain Relief Oil At Home?

1. Take 7 to 8 tablespoons of Nirgundi leaves and wash them thoroughly with water.
2. Set the leaves aside to dry.
3. Next, take 5 to 6 tablespoons of mustard or sesame oil and heat it for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add the leaves to the oil and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Let the mixture cool down, and then strain the oil into a glass jar.

Benefits of Nirgundi Oil ^[12]

1. Nirgundi Leaf oil is used to treat painful lips, fetid ear, gandmala (cervical adenitis), fever, venereal diseases, and other syphilitic skin disorders.
2. The oil prepared with the juice of the leaves is very popular for relieving the pains of acute rheumatism.
3. Nirgundi oil is used to treat rheumatism, gout, sciatica, body ache from heavy work, migraine, toothache, earache, and many other skin troubles.
4. Oil prepared with the juice of plant parts can be rubbed onto the sinuses and to scrofulous sores of the neck. It cures sloughing wounds and ulcers.
5. This oil also exhibits anti-microbial and mosquito-repellent activity.

Herbal Oils That You Can Buy

In the modern day, Ayurvedic oils have become more accessible. Therefore, you do not need to make pain-relieving oils at home. You can buy them online or at the store and use them to massage pain-stricken areas. Some of the best Ayurvedic oils in the market include Seniorz Pain Relief Oil by Zanducare.

FAQs

Conclusion

Pain can cause extreme discomfort and hamper our day-to-day activities. Therefore, it is essential to manage pain, both acute and chronic. 

Ayurveda provides several remedies and herbs for managing pain, one of which includes massaging through herbal oils. Some of these herbal oils, such as eucalyptus oil, garlic oil, camphor oil, and Nirgundi oil, can also be prepared at home. In this article, we have talked about methods of preparation of these oils at home, alongside their intended benefits. While using these ayurvedic oils can help with the pain, you shouldn’t rely solely on them. If you’re on some pain medication, it is imperative that you keep taking your medicines as prescribed and do not solely rely on these oils for pain relief.

Disclaimer

This article is written from a health and wellness perspective and is not medical advice. Kindly seek the help of a certified medical practitioner before initiating or discontinuing any treatment based on the information given in this blog.

References

1. Various methods of Pain Management
2. Analgesic effects of eucalyptus essential oil in mice
3. Anti-viral activities of Eucalyptus Essential Oils
4. Eucalyptus oil is effective in reducing pain, swelling, and inflammation.
5. Garlic: a review of potential therapeutic effects
6. Allium sativum L. (Garlic) Role in Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials
7. Benefits of Garlic Essential Oil
8. Therapeutic and Medicinal Uses of Karpura-A Review
9. Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora), a traditional remedy with the history of treating several disease
10. Camphor helps with pain in Neuropathic Pain Models
11. Uses of Vitex negundo Linn (Nirgundi) in Ayurveda and its Pharmacological Evidences
12. Nirgundi, Nature’s gift to mankind