Natural Medicine For The Athlete: Heal Sports Injuries Faster With Essential Oils

Interested in speeding healing from hard workouts, and even more importantly, from injuries both acute and chronic? Many athletes pass bottles back and forth filled with crazy smelling concoctions from Chinese herbalists (and other sources) perhaps not knowing that some key ingredients are essential oils. Yes, the same essential oils used in aromatherapy have been used by hard-core athletes successfully to heal faster, and get back into their training program. Here’s a look at the most effective oils, and how to mix and apply them yourself to get the results you’re looking for.

A quick look at why essential oils work might convince you to at least give them a try. The physiologic aspects of injury are very similar, whether it be tendonitis, a tweaked ankle, a jammed wrist, or even an impact injury. You’ll find inflammation and oxidative radicals around the site. Inflammation may be the body’s way of actually protecting the area, but in the long run it slows the healing process. The oxidative radicals just happen to be associated with tissue damage — and your body needs to mop these up. Well, there’s a growing body of evidence noting the efficacy of essential oils managing these two processes: reducing the inflammatory response and moping up free radicals. On top of that, certain ketones found in very specific essential oils are known to stimulate tissue regeneration. Put all these actions together and you’ll have something that really might speed healing of your injuries.

Essential oils are really easy to use. You won’t be inhaling them — you’ll just be massaging them in. In most cases, they’re mixed up into a massage formula, though these formulas are generally stronger than what you’d be getting a full-body massage with. They’re made for spot treatments. Because essential oils pass through cell walls so quickly, they’re very readily absorbed. This is one of the things that makes them so effective, but also makes them leave the body fairly quickly as well — meaning you’ll want to apply them a few times a day for best results. Also, your essential oils, the “active ingredients” will be based in a common plain massage oil base like Almond oil for chronic injury care; in some rare cases you’ll use the essential oils undiluted.

Certain essential oils CAN be used at 100% strength (also called “neat” application”) in certain cases. When an injury has just happened, say out on the playing field, then “neat” application can dramatically reduce the swelling that can occur. This initial swelling is why some athletes will apply ice to an area immediately — it can have a big impact on how quickly the injury heals in the long run. One leading medical aromatherapist notes that the initial hematoma can be severely reduced or almost entirely prevented from appearing altogether.

The single most important oil for the athlete is Helichrysum essential oil. It manages to do everything at once: stop inflammation, clean up oxidation, reduce pain, and actually stimulate tissue regeneration with its unique chemical profile. If you were to only try one single oil for healing, this would be the one. It’s not inexpensive, but as an athlete, knowing what a drag it is not getting to do your thing, its price looks much more attractive. This is the primary oil called for where those injuries have just happened — using it at full strength in these cases — as well as for chronic injuries, where you’ll dilute it to 10 or 20 percent in a seed or nut oil before applying. But to really speed the healing processes, Helichrysum can be blended with other oils that perform similar functions, but in slightly different ways.

The first root oil well look at is Plai (yes, we pronounce it “play”, and no one has corrected us yet!). Plai has been studied as both an anti-inflammatory and an analgesic, with very positive results. It is also an antioxidant — so you can see, except for the specific tissue regeneration component, its right up there with Helichrysum. Some users are also applying this oil at 100% strength in acute cases; otherwise its most commonly used at 10% strength based in a carrier oil. Plai is frequently combined with other essential oils in the formula to enhance its efficacy.

Two more oils are at the forefront of sports injury treatment: Ginger and German Chamomile. Both these oils can be found as carbon dioxide extracts (CO2′s), and this cold process will make the most potent anti-inflammatory oils for healing purposes. If one had to be chosen, Ginger would be it, if only due to the significant body of research noting its potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. At the same time, they likely work together producing a synergistic healing action.

Creating a formula for chronic injuries is very easy to do, and you’ll likely be thrilled with the results. The following formula will be most effective for soft-tissue injuries, though injuries involving cartilage will benefit as well — just at a slower pace (as is the nature of such injuries!). Use ten percent Helichrysum OR Plai essential oil, and two percent of each of the others, based in ANY carrier oil — Almond, Hazelnut, even Olive will work. Mix this up in a clean glass container — a one or two ounce amber or cobalt blue bottle with an eye dropper can be the easiest to dispense the oils from in the long run.

All the essential oils mentioned here have a track record for healing and inflammation reduction of soft tissue injuries. Many people find them far more effective than any pharmaceutical preparation they’ve ever tried. If you find yourself frequently nursing an injury incurred from sports, its really worth the effort to mix up one of these blends at least once and give it a whirl. Like so many users, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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