By Katie Vance
This DIY pain salve recipe is a simple and effective sore muscle treatment you can make at home and keep on hand to treat those everyday aches and pains.
Have you ever wanted a simple salve recipe to help ease aches and pains? This pain salve is my go-to remedy for muscle soreness. It is easy to make and is the perfect gift for this holiday season!
DIY Sore Muscle Treatment
We’ve been doing a lot of yard work and fall cleaning at my house. That requires a lot of heavy lifting, bending, and general muscle strain. A few days ago my husband was complaining that his back and legs were extremely sore.
Since he rarely ever complains, I knew those aches and pains were really bothering him. I needed to make something fast, so I grabbed my notebook and started working on a recipe. After some planning and preparation, I was ready to try my pain salve recipe. (If you’d like to learn more about my process for creating DIY remedies, visit this post on how to DIY Smart.)
Ingredients for Aches and Pains
First, I knew I wanted to use juniper berry essential oil. Juniper berry is such a wonderful oil to use for sore muscle treatment. It helps ease soreness and I always include it in post-workout essential oil blends. Juniper berry essential oil is very gentle and penetrates quickly into the skin. It has a sweeter, pine-like aroma that is refreshing and crisp.
Laurel leaf essential oil is another great essential oil for muscle aches. This oil is a powerhouse and should only be used at 0.5% concentration in topical pain blends. It is also not safe to use with children because of a high percentage of 1,8 cineole. However, it is great to use in muscle pain blends for adults. In this DIY pain salve recipe, I used laurel leaf essential oil at (slightly under) the 0.5% recommendation.
Lastly, to round out the aroma of this blend I chose copaiba essential oil. This oil is a wonderful anti-inflammatory with deeply grounding notes. Many people use it in sore muscle treatment, arthritis blends, and pain salve. I think it also works well with the aroma of juniper berry and laurel leaf essential oils.
Making the Sore Muscle Treatment Pain Salve
Once I knew which essential oils I was choosing, making the pain salve was easy! For this recipe, I wanted an easily massaged-on base, so I chose to keep my beeswax percentage low. Shea butter is soft and spreadable and makes up the bulk of this DIY pain salve. I added some avocado oil to the mix to make it a little more spreadable.
This sore muscle treatment pain salve recipe makes enough to fit in one, 2-ounce tin. However, a little goes a long way! Simply scoop out a small amount and rub it on areas with aches and pains.
Note: all three of these essential oils are also beneficial to the respiratory system. This DIY pain salve could have another use as a respiratory relief balm.
Pain Salve for Sore Muscle Treatment
Yield 2 ounces
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon beeswax (find beeswax pastilles here)
- 1 ounce shea butter (find unrefined shea butter here)
- 0.5 ounce avocado oil (find organic avocado oil here)
- 10 drops juniper berry essential oil (find it here)
- 5 drops laurel leaf essential oil (find it here)
- 3 drops copaiba essential oil (find it here)
- 2-ounce tin, or two 1-ounce tins (find them here)
Instructions
- Add a few inches of water to a small saucepan. Place a glass pyrex measuring cup in the saucepan and heat on low.
- Measure in beeswax and allow to melt.
- Add in avocado oil and shea butter. Stir on low heat until melted.
- Let cool for several minutes.
- Drop in essential oils and stir well.
- Pour into one clean 2-ounce tin or two 1-ounce tins.
- Allow to cool slightly. Cap and cool fully.
- Store in a cool, dry place.
- To use your sore muscle treatment pain salve, scoop out a small amount and gently massage into aching, painful areas.
Notes
This sore muscle treatment pain salve is not safe to use on children. If you'd like to make a child-safe version of this recipe, you can either omit the laurel leaf essential oil or swap it out with lavender essential oil.
This recipe can certainly be doubled, but I find starting with a little bit is always wise when making something new. My husband loved it and I know you will too!
Need more sore muscle treatment ideas?
Check out some of our other articles!
- Homemade Balm for Sore and Stiff Muscles and Joints
- Natural Herbal Therapies For Your Aching Back Pain
- A Natural Homemade Arnica Bruise Cream Recipe
- Ease Sore Muscles Naturally With These Remedies
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I could infuse some oil with bay leaves and use that instead of laurel leaf essential oil, maybe?
Hi Joy, an oil infusion is not as strong as an essential oil. You certainly could infuse bay leaves in oil, but they likely would not work the same as laurel leaf essential oil.