The Best Topical Pain Relievers For Neck & Back Pain
A Chiropractor's Recommendations & Product Review
As a chiropractic physician my recommendations are made based on a variety of factors including spinal biomechanics, research evidence and practical considerations such as ease of advice implementation and cost particular products. I would like to disclose that, although I may get a referral fee from some of the items advertised or reviewed, this will never impact the integrity of my reviews or recommendations. I hope you find my recommendations useful; however, if you have a specific spinal problem or condition, and have not yet done so, it is recommended that you contact your qualified health care provider for recommendations that may apply to your particular case.
Peter C. Spathis, DC
Topical Pain Relievers For Neck & Back Pain
Topical pain relieving gels and lotions - sometimes known as "topical analgesics" - can be very useful in helping relieve musculoskeletal discomfort such as neck and back pain without the side effects of NSAIDs or other pain relieving medications. However, some individuals may still be sensitive to certain ingredients in these products. For this reason, please review the ingredient list for any product you consider using to ensure you don't have an allergy or known skin sensitivity to any active or inactive ingredient in may contain. Better yet, consult your qualified health care provider if you are not certain about a particular product or ingredient.
Assuming you do not have an allergy, skin sensitivity or other contraindication to a particular product, some factors to consider are product effectiveness (how well it relieves pain), cost, ease of application and product residue on your skin - nobody wants to have greasy fingers that they have to wash off after they apply topicial pain relieving lotion to some part of their body if another product could do the same job without the residue. With these considerations, the following topical analgesics are reviewed.
Biofreeze has become ubiquitous in manual therapy professions so it should be no surprise to find it in this list. I personally use Biofreeze on patients in my chiropractic practice as it is strong enough to provide some pain relieving effect but not so overwhelming that it can't be tolerated by most people. This is a menthol based gel that does not leave a greasy residue on your fingers after application. I have included a link to the "3 pack" of the 4 oz Biofreeze tube due to the cost savings compared to buying multiple 3 oz gel tubes individually. Finally, this link is to the "professional version" of the product - the same type that I use in my office - which is a higher menthol concentration (5%) than the non-professional versions found in some stores.
For those that want to avoid getting Biofreeze on their hands during application, the product also comes in a roll-on bottle. The link provided is again to a 5% menthol professional strength version of the product. However, please be aware that the roll-on bottle is only 3 oz. This makes the product in the 3 bottles in this pack a little more expensive than the 3 pack of the 4 oz tubes listed above. The other point worth mentioning is that some people feel they get a stronger effect with the gel tubes listed above compared to the roll-on bottles. This is likely because a "thicker" layer of Biofreeze can be applied by using a greater amount of the product per unit of area compared to the "thinner" layer you will likely get with the roll-on. It really comes down to personal preference but, in our office, we have found that our patients prefer the above tube version at about a 2:1 ratio compared to the roll-on version.
This product attempts to provide pain relief by more directly addressing the associated inflammation component. It does this by including a combination of ingredients - especially arnica - that may be effective in achieving this goal. The product also contains a number of other ingredients that may assist in reducing inflammation. I'm not sure to what degree some of these other ingredients assist in reducing inflammation with this topical application or if they provide some analgesic effect through a different mechanism. Whatever the case, many people have found this to be an effective superficial analgesic as evidenced by the above average customer satification rating.
Aspercreme contains lidocaine as its active ingredient. This is a local anesthetic that relieves pain by numbing the area it is applied to. This being the case, it would seem that this would be the most effective way to relieve back right? Well, depending on the cause of your pain, results will vary. I believe that people with conditions like fibromyalgia, certain types of arm and leg pain or irritation of more superfical tissue may find Aspercreme more effective at providing relief than those with a deeper tissue pain generating mechanism such as a herniated disc. Still, for many people, this will be an effective product even when some other products have failed.
When speaking about an effective topical pain reliever at a low price it's hard to beat plain old Icy Hot. This contains menthol and camphor, ingredients that stimulate nerve endings in the skin in a way that produces both cold and hot sensations. The concentration of the ingredients in this product is high enough to produce a sensory effect that can override some of the underlying pain that people feel. By reducing pain in this way, muscles involved in the "pain-spasm-pain" cycle can relax to some degree, further assisting in relieving back pain. If Icy Hot has a high concentration of active ingredients at such a low price, what could be the downside? The answer is individual tolerance. If a product produces an effect so strong that it is uncomfortable for a given individual, it will not be helpful in relieving pain. In fact, it may even add to the discomfort. For this reason, those that are more sensitive to topical analgesics, especially products that produce hot or cold sensations, they will likely prefer the Biofreeze products mentioned above. For those that can "comfortably tolerate" stronger products, Icy Hot would be worth a try. You certainly can't beat the price!
