Natural RSI Treatment with Essential Oils

Repetitive Strain Injuries, Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Treatment

Nov 13, 2009

RSI or repetitive stain injury can be annoying, painful and difficult to treat. Essential oils provide a simple, effective way to relieve wrist pain and hand swelling.

Repetitive strain injuries can be painful, debilitating, and costly in terms of work and medical bills. The best trick to healing them is rest, but natural RSI treatments like essential oils can be very effective at healing repetitive strain and pain.

What are RSIs or Repetitive Strain Injuries?

RSI is short for repetitive strain injury – also sometimes called repetitive stress injuries, repetitive trauma, overuse injuries, and repetitive motion injury. These are injuries that occur as a result of repeated movements using the same muscle groups – often fast movements, like the sports activities that cause tennis elbow or the typing motions that can contribute to hand and wrist injuries unless you're using a mouse and keyboard with good ergonomics.

Tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndome, and a long list of other hand and wrist pain issues are all grouped under the big heading of RSIs. These kinds of injuries can be debilitating and can prevent work – and they can be difficult to heal without completely avoiding the activities that caused the trauma in the first place.

Aromatherapy Oils in RSI and Carpal Tunnel Treatment

Essential oils are natural plant medicines that have been used for thousands of years to treat everything from pain to hormonal imbalance. These aromatic liquids are able to penetrate cells and provide the oxygen and nutrients needed to restore health, lessening pain and speeding recovery from all kinds of injuries.

Essential oils can be an effective tool in repetitive injury and carpal tunnel treatment because they go deep into the muscles and tendons to repair damage and restore mobility. Aromatherapy oils can also be very powerful for pain relief and to lower hand swelling.

When using really pure, therapeutic grade essential oils, it's possible to apply the oils directly to the area of pain and swelling to improve carpal tunnel or tennis elbow. The oils should take effect immediately in providing pain relief, and will continue to work on the deep injury for several hours after application.

Choosing Essential Oils to Relieve Hand and Wrist Pain

The most important thing in selecting essential oils is to choose the best quality oils. Anything less may contain chemical adulterants that can cause allergic reactions, halt recovery or do damage to the body. For details on essential oil quality, see The Real Quality of Essential Oils.

More than one of these oils can be applied at once, often with a massage oil base and a hot or cold poultice for best effect. Repeat as needed.

Essential Science Publishing (compiled by), Essential Oils Desk Reference, 2nd Edition. USA, Essential Science Publishing, 2001.

CUPE, "Repetitive strain injuries – Fact sheet," CUPE.ca/RSI, 26 February 2003.

The copyright of the article Natural RSI Treatment with Essential Oils in Aromatherapy is owned by Victoria Anisman-Reiner. Permission to republish Natural RSI Treatment with Essential Oils in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.