Essential Oils for Stiff Neck to Alleviate Pain & Speed Up Healing

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Hi everyone! So I woke up this morning with a stiff neck. Well, what actually happened is that I could not sleep from 3am to 8am approx. and when, at some point, I stretched my arms energetically the muscles around the neck strained. I felt it happening in slow motion but I couldn’t stop it from happening.

The result: I got up this morning with a stiff neck and I’m going to use essential oils to ease the pain.

The neck contains muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. These work together to support the head and allow it to move in many directions.

Medical News Today

Stiffness happens when the neck muscles are stretched too far, overused or strained. In my case I obviously strained the muscles when enthusiastically stretching my arms in the middle of the night. My neck became quite sore straight away.

Stiff neck from stretching in the middle of the night. I felt the muscle straining.

Below you’ll find a formula for the essential oil blend I’m preparing. As you know, essential oils need to be diluted as well as ‘carried into the skin’ with the aid of a base oil (see below). Essential oils are powerful and you always need to know about safety. The amounts below are safe to use.

A Simple but Effective Stiff Neck Oil Blend

STEP 1: Get Your Base Oil

Amount: 1oz/28grams

For the base oil you can choose one of the following three flower infused oils (or an equal mix of the three).

  • Calendula (Calendula officinalis) infused oil (get it here *infused in olive oil)
    Calendula infused oil is naturally rich in salicylic acid a natural skin repairer renowned for its calming and soothing as well as anti-inflammatory properties.
  • Arnica (Arnica montana) infused oil (get it here *infused in olive oil)
    Arnica belongs to the anodyne type of herbs, which help dull the sense of pain. A natural anti-inflammatory, arnica helps dilate capillaries which increases blood flow resulting in decrease swelling and faster healing.
  • St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) infused oil (careful, it can potentially interact with a number of different medications including oral contraceptives [Hoffmann, 2003]) (get it here, or get the organic one here *both infused in olive oil)
    Another anodyne herb, St. John’s wort helps relieve physical tension and pain. A go-to for painful issues including pinched nerves.

The flowers from these herbs have been infused into a base oil in order to extract their healing properties. The oils for extraction used are commonly olive oil, sunflower oil or sweet almond oil.

Again, you can use as a base one of the oils, a mix of two oils or a blend of the three oils. I used calendula oil and St John’s wort oil as I don’t have at home arnica oil.

STEP 2: Add Your Essential Oils

Let’s add those wonderfully powerful essential oils to the mix.

  • 10 drops peppermint (Mentha x piperita) essential oil (get it here)
    With a cooling quality unique to its menthol component, peppermint reduces reduces pain and helps increases circulation. A really strong pain relief oil.
  • 10 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil (get it here)
    With wonderful analgesic effects, lavender is great to relieve stiffness, inflammation and pain. Not as ‘loud’ as peppermint essential oil but a great companion to its healing properties.

Other essential oils that work for muscle pain are German chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), Black spruce (Picea mariana), Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Juniper (Juniperus comunis). Just to keep mind as reference in case you run out of one of the essential oils above.

STEP 3: Apply!

  • Get your mix ready into a bottle like these ones (remember to shake the blend well)
  • Put a bit of oil on your hand
  • Apply on painful neck area and massage gently (take the scent in, it’s part of your healing process)
  • Apply several times a day as needed

Keep the stiff neck oil blend by your bed table as well as your herbal medicine cabinet so you can apply as soon as you wake up next time with a stiff neck!

I’m Already Feeling A Lot Better

I’ve already applied my blend 4 times today and the muscles around the area seem a lot more relaxed. The ‘pinched’ nerve uncomfortable feeling is not as strong and I can move my neck more at ease. There’s still pain but it feels A LOT more relaxed.

**It’s evening time and the pain is very mild now. I’ve applied about 7 or 8 times today : )

Hope you get to feel the benefits of this fantastic essential oil blend for stiff neck.

Related keywords: essential oil blend for stiff neck, essential oils for neck muscle tension, natural muscle relaxer

References

Medical News Today, What to Know About Stiff Neck
Spine Health, Stiff Neck Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
Rosalee de la Foret, Herbal Actions and Energetics
Rosalee de la Foret, Arnica Ointment
The Herbal Academy, Yarrow and Arnica Uses
The Herbal Academy, St John’s Wort: Not Just for Depression
The Herbal Academy, 12 Traditional Pain Relieving Herbs
Aromahead Institute, Stiff Neck Oil
Aromahead Institute, When to Apply Stiff Neck Oil

Patri Hernandez, CHC, Certified Health Coach & Certified Organic Skincare Alchemist
One day, during my menopausal rollercoaster, I had a spiritual awakening that connected me so deeply with nature, I thought I might sprout leaves. Suddenly, natural ingredients became my obsession—like an addiction, really. My body was magnetically drawn to them, and it wasn’t long before I found myself knee-deep in essential oils, herbs, and all things organic.

From there, it was a slippery slope (a delightfully scented one) into organic skincare formulation. The intoxicating aroma of essential oils, the thrill of crafting something pure with my own hands—I was hooked. It wasn’t enough to just use these natural wonders; I had to create them, surround myself with them. Now, I live on a piece of land where I grow my own organic fruits and vegetables (when the weather isn’t playing tricks on me), and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When people ask what I do, I like to think about the view from my window—the endless sea—and say, “I live the life dreamers dream of.” It's All about the richness of living in harmony with nature. Watching others turn to natural ingredients because of something I shared with them—that’s my proudest achievement.

Oh, and just to keep things interesting, I’m also a bit of a nerd. I love computers, software, and all the techy stuff that seems like it wouldn’t fit with my earth-loving, oil-sniffing lifestyle. But hey, who says you can’t have the best of both worlds?

My ultimate goal? To help people kick the commercial product habit and embrace the natural, the organic, the truly nourishing. Life’s too short to settle for anything less.

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