How do they get heat in an ointment? Generally by making wintergreen a primary ingredient. This aromatic plant is a mild irritant and it causes the sensation of warmth. Some of the rubs also have Xylocaine in them, which is a superficial numbing medicine.
Analgesic creams are not in my trainer’s bag at least not any more. In England I saw a soccer team once and all they had on the sidelines was a bucket of ice water and a sponge. When an athlete went down he would scream, “I need the sponge.” At that the trainer would race across the field and slap the “magic” sponge on the player’s sore spot. That sponge and water were as effective as everything I had in my trainer’s bag! I could hand out Band-Aids and splints and analgesics,,I could immobilize a shoulder or brace a knee, and I watched that soccer team in England and I brought back a sponge. I wanted to remind myself to check my motives at all times. Am I working to help the athlete or to impress the coaches? Or am I acting just to look good?
If creams or ointments make you feel better, then use them. Sometimes I suspect it’s less the actual lotion than it is the act of rubbing the sore spot that really helps, especially if someone else applies it for you. Massage makes anyone feel more comfortable and relaxed, and it may even improve flexibility and help the body metabolize some of the waste products of the athletic event.
Which of these is best for you? Only you can tell, and in fact, even between two medications that are absolutely the same you may find that one works for you while the other doesn’t. Why? Some people might say it’s your imagination, but it’s more complicated than that. Research on the placebo effect, which is how the body responds to chemically inert substances such as sugar pills, suggests that up to one third the benefit of certain medications could be attributable to a familiar size, shape, color, or name on a tablet. This is not imaginary, nor should it be denigrated. Such effects can encourage the body’s own pain-relieving efforts, and anything that can boost the potency of analgesic medication is a real boon to people in pain.
Don’t, however, bombard your body with a little of everything in hopes of overwhelming the pain. What you really may be doing is overwhelming your body and doing significant damage. Don’t even mix aspirin with one of the aspirin alternatives. There is a growing fear that combining more than one analgesic may increase the risk of kidney damage, for example. A number of countries have banned multi-ingredient painkillers. The United States, however, is not one of them. Read the package before you buy a painkiller and check that you’re not getting a mixed bag of medication.
Perhaps the biggest problem associated with all this self-medicafing is a major new risk of ulcers. Over-the-counter analgesics, such as aspirin, are a fraction of the total market for non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. Over 270 million prescriptions for NSAIDS are written each year. But whether prescription or over-the counter, NSAIDS may be causing ulcers in an estimated 20 percent of the 40 million Americans who regularly use these drugs.
These ulcers associated with NSAIDS are often symptomless, providing no warning to the patient or physician. Again, we’ve been so bombarded with advertising touting these products that we have become almost anesthetized to the fact that these are all powerful drugs. And in sports medicine we have already mentioned the risks involved with burying pain and steam rolling ahead with activity. Use of these drugs is certainly no substitute for the more permanent forms of rehabilitation we’ll be discussing.
There is, of course, a time and place for pain relief in sports medicine. Sometimes you overdo it and need some relief from your complaining muscles; at other times, medication can ease recovery. And if you’re in rehabilitation, pain relievers may reduce your discomfort and increase your chances of completing your therapy program. If you find a drug that works for you, fine, but if you find that you’re relying more and more on medication, it’s time to see a doctor before you suffer a mid-sports crisis.
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