Can Essential Oils Help Your Bunion Pain?
“Science” Behind Essential Oils
*Bunion Bootie does not endorse or suggest any treatment or use of essential oils or topicals without first reviewing your options with your doctor.
**UPDATE- We’ve formulated our own blend of essential oils just for bunions! Order Your HERE!
A growing number of people these days are turning to the use of essential oils or alternative treatments for their aches and pains, as opposed to taking pills and prescriptions. According to the 21Drops.com website – Essential oils can help alter our physical, mental and emotional well-being by triggering and strengthening our bodies’ own natural processes. They are made up of tiny molecules that can deliver healing properties to the systems that control our physiological state. Unfortunately, essential oils are not recognized as an effective treatment by the FDA. In fact, the FDA has ordered a couple of major essential oil distributors to remove all claims of health benefits from their products and websites. That being said, even without conducting the expensive and lengthy clinical trials that the US government requires, many other countries and cultures do recognize the use of alternative treatments, such as essential oils, as part of an effective treatment protocol for many common ailments. Often for personal reasons, Americans search out a more “natural” solution to their problems before resorting to typical Western Medicine, with the attitude that they have nothing to lose since the risks are typically very low.
Since bunion pain is so challenging to fully resolve, many bunion sufferers turn to alternative treatments in an effort to reduce the pain, or make living with bunions more bearable. This is especially true since it is rarely considered medically necessary to operate on bunions; surgery is usually a last resort in an effort to make a patient more comfortable. Even then, bunions can return if the underlying cause of the bunion is not addressed.
Can Essential Oils Help?
So what is a bunion sufferer attempting to address with the use of essential oils? Certainly they do not expect to realign the bone structure of the foot.. However, along with the misaligned bone structure, usually comes the aggravation and swelling of the protruding big toe joint as it rubs within the bunion sufferer’s footwear. If left to worsen, bursitis (a fluid filled sac) can develop at the base of the big toe joint. It could be possible to relieve the discomfort caused by the swelling and formation of the bursa sac using alternative or natural methodologies. Protecting the area from additional inflammation is a great place to start, and easily handled by the use of Bunion Booties (yes, of course we had to plug our own treatment option!), but some also choose to try oils as a means to massage the area into submission. Just searching online you’ll find a wide variety of options ranging from Cypress oil, Juniper Berry, White Fir, Basil and Wintergreen to Chamomile Blue, Lavender, Lemon, Marjoram, Peppermint, and Rosemary. Some of these are effective as a massage oil but others carry anti-inflammatory properties that may help. Certainly consuming foods and supplements that offer anti-inflammatory properties can always help aching pains. For a useful list of anti-inflammatory foods visit the page here.
As bunion sufferers ourselves, we’re always looking for and keeping an open mind towards anything that can make our feet, the crux of our active lifestyles, comfortable. If there’s something that has worked well for you, please feel free to drop us a line!