How to relieve the pain of a torticollis with essential oils

Torticollis is a muscular contraction of the neck, particularly of the sternocleido-occipito-mastoid (or SCOM) and trapezius muscles. The head gets stuck on one side or the other and neck pain is felt, especially when you try to straighten it. To get you out of it, not too many choices: rest, heat and massage with an effective synergy of essential oils.

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The quick reflex : Rosemary with Camphor

Restricted to + 6 years. By skin, 1 drop of essential oil of Rosemary Camphor in 4 drops of vegetable oil in massage on the painful area, 4 times a day until improvement.

how to use Rosemary Camphor correctly?

Complete synergy for adults

The mixture

To relieve your neck, take your empty bottle, and add :

  • 35 drops of Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil.
  • 25 drops of Romarin Camphor essential oil.
  • 25 drops of Scented Wintergreen essential oil.
  • 12 drops of Vetiver essential oil.
  • 25 drops of St. John's Wort Oily Macerate.

Cap (click!), homogenize and then label your bottle. Your synergy is ready to use!

How to use

Gently massage the neck and upper back with 3 to 4 drops of the mixture, 3 times a day, for 5 to 7 days.

Authorized users

YES. Adults, children over 6 years old.
NOT. Pregnant and nursing women, children under 6 years old.

Special precautions

  • Ask for medical advice for asthmatics before using this synergy.
  • An essential oil is prohibited in case of hormone-dependent cancer or high blood pressure, it has a neurotoxic and hepatotoxic component.
  • Another essential oil of this mixture is contraindicated for people under anticoagulant treatment or allergic to salicylates (aspirin) as well as for people with eczema, asthma, ulcers, hernias, hemorrhages, or having to undergo surgery.
  • It is advised not to expose to the sun in the 12 hours following its application because of the presence of St John's wort.
  • St. John's Wort could reduce the effectiveness of certain drugs, anticoagulants, contraceptive pills, etc. Its use in this case should be avoided without medical advice.
  • It is also recommended to perform the allergy test with the mixture in the hollow of the elbow before any use.

These precautions apply under the conditions of application and dosage cited above. If in doubt, ask your question on our forum and consult your doctor.

Complete synergy for pregnant women

Pregnancy blend

To soothe the pain of a stiff neck, take your empty bottle, and add :

  • 2 drops of Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil.
  • 2 drops of Noble Laurel essential oil.
  • 4 drops of Lavender Fine essential oil.
  • 40 drops of Oily Macerate of Arnica.

Close (click!), homogenize and label your bottle. Your synergy is ready to be used!

How to use

Gently massage the back of your neck and upper back with 6 to 8 drops of the mixture. Repeat the application 3 times a day for 5 to 7 days

Authorized users

YES. Pregnant women over 3 months, nursing women.
NOT. Pregnant women - 3 months, babies - 3 years.

Generally speaking, remember that essential oils are NOT allowed in the first 3 months of pregnancy. More information: essential oils for pregnant and nursing women.

Special precautions

  • Medical advice is required for people with asthma or epilepsy.
  • It is also recommended to perform the allergy test with the mixture in the hollow of the elbow before any use.

These precautions apply under the conditions of application and dosage cited above. If in doubt, ask your question on our forum and consult your doctor.

Why these essential oils?

Lemon Eucalyptus, specific for rheumatism

It is citronellal, a monoterpene aldehyde, that provides Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil with the majority of its properties for treating torticollis. Citronellal is a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic, it is negativizing and therefore has soothing properties by acting on certain neuromediators (molecules that allow the transfer of nerve information).

Thanks to its rubefacient action (sensation of heat by dilation of the blood capillaries) which relaxes the muscles, this component fights against the muscular spasms and will be all the more effective against the spasmodic torticolis.

Rosemary Camphor as a neuromuscular calming agent

Rosemary Camphor Essential Oil is an excellent neuromuscular relaxant. This property comes from its high percentage of camphor (14 to 24%), a ketone. It will thus largely decrease the tension of the muscles at the level of the neck creating the torticollis.

Camphor is also a very good analgesic due to its property of local anesthetic. Indeed, by vasodilatation of the microcirculation (dilation of the small blood vessels), it makes the skin slightly redden and causes a feeling of heat and anesthesia. This keeps the neck warm and relaxes the muscles to get back on your feet more quickly.

1,8-cineole and alpha pinene, two powerful anti-infectives, will also be of interest if this torticollis comes from muscular fatigue caused by a flu.

Sweet Clover: a powerful anti-inflammatory

Methyl salicylate, a terpene ester, makes up 95-99% of Scented Wintergreen essential oil. Like citronellal, it is negativizing. This negativizing nature of the esters provides them with potent anti-inflammatory properties. Methyl salicylate is specialized in muscle and joint pain. Its action comes from an inhibition of pro-inflammatory enzymes. It is a very good percutaneous analgesic which will thus decrease with effectiveness the pains due to the torticollis.

This component is also a very effective muscular antispasmodic thanks to the heating that it gets to the muscle (rubefacient action).

The methyl salicylate (ester) comes to associate with the citronellal (aldehyde) of the lemon Eucalyptus to multiply tenfold their capacities of treatment of the muscular pains and to come to assistance to those suffering from torticolis.

Vetiver to repair damaged tissue

The Vetiver essential oil contains, among other things, beta vetivene, a sesquiterpene that gives it true circulatory tonic properties. The stimulation of blood circulation allows a supply of oxygen and essential nutrients to damaged tissues and a faster elimination of molecules responsible for pain.

The process of natural remission (recovery) is thus accelerated, pain and muscle tension are reduced and the torticollis will disappear more quickly. The sesquiterpenes of this essential oil help the other molecules of the synergy to treat torticollis thanks to their anti-inflammatory and calming properties.

Noble Laurel calms pain

Perfectly approved for pregnant women, Noble Laurel Essence Oilprovides an essential oil with remarkable pain-relieving properties.

It has a recognized anesthetic action on specific nerve fibers. These nerve fibers being conductors of the sensation of pain, their inhibition will decrease the sharp pain felt with each movement of the head. The essential oil of Noble Laurel contains a very small quantity of eugenol, molecule nevertheless very powerful and responsible for its effects anti-pain.

The Fine Lavender reinforces the actions of the synergy

The Fine Lavender essential oil here provides an indispensable complement to the effects of each of the blend's components.

The acetate of linalyl and the linalol which it contains have multiple properties. On the one hand, their action on receptors of the brain to the pain will lead to an analgesic effect very appreciable in the event of torticollis, and reinforcing the capacity anti-pain of the Noble Laurel. The linalyl acetate is especially and also strongly antispasmodic and will make it possible, with the assistance of the citronellal of Lemon Eucalyptus, to cause an effective slackening of the trapezoids and the muscles SCOM.

Why these vegetable oils?

Arnica to reduce inflammation

In cases of torticollis, the contraction of neck muscles leads to tissue inflammation. The Arnica Oily Macerate will help the Lemon Eucalyptus to work at the heart of the inflammation to eliminate it, providing lactones for complementary action and increased effectiveness. Moreover, pregnant women being sensitive users, it is important to dilute essential oils for them before using them. It is thus that Arnica also fulfills the role of diluent, support to essential oils for an effective action without danger.

St. John's Wort to support other oils

Essential oils often need a carrier to be used without the risk of overdosing. Thus, the St. John's Wort Oily Macerate helps dilute essential oils, supporting their anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. St. John's Wort will carry the essential oils to facilitate their passage through the skin barrier, and thus guarantee their action at the heart of the tissues damaged by this torticollis. The unsaponifiable matter in St John's wort oil is loaded with anti-inflammatory molecules, to silence the fire that makes you suffer in the neck

Torticollis Pack of organic essential oils See the product