When I was a child any time I had any muscle aches or pains, sprains etc my mother always used to put tiger balm on it. Does it actually do anything and if so what?
In: Biology
It works by distracting your brain from the pain. The cooling effect of balm increases blood flow to the applied part. Sometimes a balm can contain medication like diclofenac that deactivates hormones that cause pain.
[Tiger Balm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Balm) is made out of Menthol, Camphor, and a few other chemicals, as well as the actual ointment portion of petroleum jelly or such.
The active ingredients will all stimulate surface nerves. Some will make the cold nerves active, some will make the heat nerves active, and some will do both. And they all have a strong smell. The combination of all of these things will disrupt pain signals from your nerves, and the smell will help trigger your memory of similar situations (and how you felt better for those ones as well).
So it basically makes you stop hurting (at a surface level), smells interesting, and then by the time it wears off the underlying pain is usually better because you rested the ache or the sprain.
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