Arthritis knee pain improves after aromatherapy massage with lavender essential oil

Aromatherapy massage with lavender essential oil seems to be effective in relieving pain in people with knee osteoarthritis, says research in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

A total of 90 people with knee osteoarthritis were split into three groups: intervention (aromatherapy massage with lavender essential oil), placebo (massage with almond oil) and control (no massage). Pain levels were recorded at the start of the study, after the treatment, one week later and four weeks later.

People in the intervention group had less pain than those in the other groups immediately after the treatment and one week later. But four weeks on there was no significant difference between the groups.

“Aromatherapy massage with lavender essential oil was found effective in relieving pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis,” the authors conclude. “However, further studies are needed to confirm findings of this study.”

Click here to read the original research.

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