Natural Pain Relief Options

There are many natural pain relief options available to you if you find that traditional methods are too harsh or produce undesirable side effects. Read on to discover some of the easiest, fastest and best natural pain relief options.

Natural Pain Relief Options for Headaches and Sore Muscles

For stress-related headaches and sore muscles, there are no better natural pain relief options than the fragrant and beautiful lavender. You can use lavender essential oil to relieve headaches almost immediately. Just rub it on your temples or inhale it directly from the bottle for convenient natural pain relief options. This would be ideal for times when you are on the go, at work, or any other situation in which you need natural pain relief options fast. If you were relying on conventional methods, i.e. aspirin, you could be waiting up to an hour for relief.

Lavender essential oil, in addition to being one of the best natural pain relief options, is also a wonderful relaxant and can reduce stress and relax muscles. The oil and flowers are both viable natural pain relief options for sore muscles. Take a hot bath and pour about one tablespoon of lavender essential oil into the bath water. You can also add a sachet of lavender flowers. This will soothe tired, aching muscles and is one of the best natural pain relief options available to you.

Lavender flowers are also very useful natural pain relief options for headaches. Just put some of the dried flowers into a small cloth, then twist or tie up and place over your eyes. This will block out light which is known to irritate headaches and give you opportunity to inhale the headache-relieving scent of lavender. When I get a headache, I usually rub lavender oil on my temples and then lay down with a pouch of flowers on my eyes for about ten minutes or so. This almost always cures the pain. If it doesn't, I take a hot lavender bath and that does the trick. There are no better natural pain relief options than lavender for headaches and sore muscles.

Natural Pain Relief Options for Arthritis Pain

One of the best natural pain relief options for arthritis pain is physical activity. An in-depth study performed by the Arthritis Foundation showed that an exercise routine of low-impact routines with gentle range-of-motion movements relieved pain in those who participated significantly. The Arthritis Foundation recommends their exercise program, of course, but any low impact program will work for you. Speak to your physician if you think the Arthritis Foundation's exercise program or a program of your own might be natural pain relief options for you.

There are many herbs that can be used as natural pain relief options for arthritis pain. Ginger, for example, is a wonderful arthritis pain reliever when taken as a tea, tincture, and capsule or even in a food dish on a daily basis. This medicinal herb will work over time to relieve the pain of arthritis with no harmful side effects. Drugs and over the counter medications can produce unwanted side effects but the use of safe and common herbs will only improve health and reduce pain, not cause pain in places you didn't have it before. Natural pain relief options are always kinder to your body than their over-the-counter cousins.

Nettle is one of the best natural pain relief options available for arthritis pain and it has been used for this purpose for ages. Nettle beer is the best way to ease the pain of arthritis. Of course this isn't an item you can run out and buy at the local grocery store. However, you can make your own nettle beer at home easily and inexpensively. For more information on making nettle beer at home, see my article "How to Make Your Own Nettle Beer".

If you don't like the idea of nettle beer, you can still use nettle prepared in other ways as natural pain relief options. Take it as a tea or steam and eat the young leaves. Don't worry! They won't sting after they've been cooked and they are quite tasty. Plus they are fantastic natural pain relief options no matter how you consume them.

Natural Pain Relief Options for Menstrual Pain

Women overcame the pain of menstruation for centuries before the advent of Midol and similar products. These natural pain relief options can still be used with success today and without any side effects or much cost to the user. One of the natural pain relief options for menstrual pain is evening primrose oil. I have taken two capsules of evening primrose oil for the past several years and never suffered from menstrual cramps once since I began the regimen. This is one of the best natural pain relief options for this type of pain. The only drawback is it can take a month or two to work. For best results, begin taking two capsules a day during or after your cycle. Then, by the next month you will be pain free.

Another of the natural pain relief options for menstrual pain is simply a hot bath. The hot water soothes the aches and pain associated with menstruation and I always find this to be a great natural pain relief option for this and many other types of pain. Heating pads or hot fomentations applied to the lower back and belly are also beneficial as natural pain relief options for menstrual pain.

Natural Pain Relief Options for General Pain

There are plenty of natural pain relief options for general pain that can be used successfully. Some of these natural pain relief options include chamomile tea and valerian.

Chamomile tea taken before bed will not only bring sleep and happy dreams, because of its relaxant properties it can also relieve many types of pain. Valerian is a commonly used herb to relieve pain of all kinds. My mother gave me a few drops of valerian when I was in pain as a child. Beware if using this herb as it smells awful. The scent is reminiscent of dirty gym socks. But don't let that put you off. This is one of the best natural pain relief options available.

Willow bark tincture is another of the best natural pain relief options. This is actually where aspirin is made and the bark of the Willow tree is even more effective in fighting pain. Make or purchase a tincture of willow bark and take about twenty drops to combat almost any type of pain form headaches to arthritis.

Natural Pain Relief Options for Chronic Pain

For chronic pain of any kind, skullcap is the best natural pain relief options. This herb can be used freely to relieve chronic pain of the joints, muscles or anywhere else. Consume about fifteen drops of skullcap tincture five times per day to utilize one of nature's best natural pain relief options for chronic pain.

For chronic muscular pain, St. John's wort is one of the best natural pain relief options. Try rubbing an infused oil of St John's wort directly into the painful part of the body for nearly instant relief from pain.

Natural pain relief options are all around us if we just look. If you're tired of stomach aches from aspirin and unwanted side effects from prescription pain medicine, why not try some natural pain relief options instead?

Sources:

http://www.arthritis.org/media/newsroom/news-releases/Exercise_Relieves_Arthritis_Pain_Release_4-8-08.pdf