How do things like Tiger Balm and Capsaicin Creme work? How do they stop pain? Do they just mask the pain by overwhelming your nerves?
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you know when you accidentally touch something really hot or really cold, and you can really feel it? That’s because you have special parts on your skin that can sense temperature. Now imagine you touch something really cold and then someone pokes you softly. You might not even notice the poke because the cold feeling is so strong. That’s kind of how things like Tiger Balm and Capsaicin Cream work. They don’t actually stop the thing that’s causing the pain. Instead, they make your skin feel hot or cold, which distracts your body from the other pain you’re feeling. It’s like when you scrape your knee and your mom gives you a lollipop. The lollipop doesn’t actually make your knee better, but it distracts you and makes you feel better anyway.
They’re more like a magic show for your nerves, making them focus on different sensations and forget about the pain. This can give you some relief while your body works on healing the actual hurt.
In a couple of ways: they provide different signals to the same nerve so pain is temporarily obscured; they also increase peripheral circulation in the area, bringing in more blood in and out, helping potentially reduce the inflammation
Things like “Icy Hot” cream are called “counter-irritants” as described by most responses here. They feel weird and distract you from pain. Capsaicin is actually different. It overstimulates the nerves that release “substance P” to transmit pain/burning sensations and it stops being released over time. It actually reduces pain signaling. This was the only decent topical true pain reliever available without a prescription ten years ago. Now we have lidocaine available over-the-counter, so it is much less useful.
Even if they just temporarily mask the pain, you can use that reprieve to do things that are beneficial like stretching the affected muscles or foam rolling etc. So while they themselves aren’t the best treatment, they can provide relief and aid in the treatment.
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