16/05/2018
Pain Relieving Creams & Gels For Muscles & Joints
As a doctor I’ve tried, recommended and prescribed many pain-relieving creams and gels to treat painful joints, backache, sore muscles, strained tendons and sprained ligaments. Medical guidelines even recommend that doctors prescribe topical creams and gels to treat mild to moderate joint pain. The best pain relief creams and gels are often just as effective as oral painkillers, but with much less risk of side effects.
How pain relief creams and gels work
You probably learned as a child that ‘rubbing it better’ quickly reduces the pain of knocks and sprains. The physical action of massaging in a cream or gel helps to warm the area and increase blood flow. This allows the active ingredients to sink into the skin more readily, where they can get to work to relieve your pain, soothe discomfort and hastening healing.The active ingredients interact with nerve endings to damp down inflammation and reduce pain perception.
Rubbing also stimulates nerve endings and sends signals to the brain which overwhelm those from pain receptors so nerve messages relating to discomfort are less likely to get through. This same concept makes topical, rub-in creams and gels highly effective for treating painful joints and sport injuries, and I’ve reviewed what I believe are the best products below.
Which is the best pain relief cream for muscles and joints?
Different creams and gels combine different pain-relieving ingredients for a greater, synergistic effect. The most effective natural ingredients are glucosamine, chondroitin, celadrin, comfrey root, capsicum, MSM and Green-lipped mussel extracts.
Glucosamine gel and glucosamine cream for pain
Glucosamine in creams and pain relief gels provides building blocks for the production of synovial fluid, which oils mobile joints, and cartilage which cushions bones. Glucosamine cream or gel also damps down inflammation and stimulates tissue repair. The glucosamine found in these topical treatments is in the form of n-acetyl glucosamine, which is small enough to sink into skin and pe*****te underlying tissues to reduce pain.
Topical glucosamine cream and gel can significantly reduce the pain of knee osteoarthritis within 4 weeks. One study involving a glucosamine cream found that 100% of those with arthritis of the shoulder gained benefit. Of those with arthritis of the ankle, wrist or elbow, glucosamine cream reduced pain in 75% of people, and it worked in 58% of those with knee osteoarthritis.
Chondroitin cream for pain
Chondroitin has a complementary action to glucosamine and the two are often combined in joint and muscle pain relief creams. A study involving 63 people with osteoarthritis found that applying a knee pain cream containing both glucosamine and chondroitin produced greater pain reduction than a placebo cream. After 4 weeks, the active glucosamine and chondroitin cream was 20% more effective, and after 8 weeks, it was 80% more effective than the placebo cream.
Source: https://experthealthreviews.com/pain-relief-creams-gels
