Abstract

Ocimum basilicum L. (basil essential oil, BEO) is a plant used in traditional folk medicine for the treatment of pain, inflammation and hypertension. BEO-inhalation was used to examine the effects of the odor of BEO and BEO concentration dependency on pain and anxiety before spine surgery in patients with chronic low back pain. A total of sixty patients were randomly assigned to one of the four study groups (control, 0.1%, 1%, 5% BEO-inhalation group). Pain-visual analog scale (P-VAS), anxiety-visual analog scale (A-VAS), profile of mood states (POMS) test, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate were measured before and after inhalation of the odors for five minutes. Inhalation of BEO at 0.1%, 1% concentration caused significant decreases in P-VAS compared with control (p=.022, p=.022, respectively), meanwhile 5% BEO-inhalation significantly reduced in diastolic blood pressure compared with control (p=.023). However, there was no significant difference among the four groups in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, A-VAS, POMS test. In patients with chronic low back pain before spine surgery, 0.1% and 1% BEO-inhalation is effective in alleviating pain and 5% BEO-inhalation reduce diastolic blood pressure. In conclusion, BEO-inhalation at specific concentrations can be useful method for the relief of pain and blood pressure control for patients with chronic low back pain before spine surgery. (Korean J Str Res 2012;20:169∼178)

• Keywords: Basil essential oil, Chronic low back pain, Inhalation, Pain, Anxiety;