Post Exercise Pain Relief May Come in a Tube

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Maggie Vink

After a tough workout, you may reach for an over-the-counter medication to help ease your exercise aches. NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and naproxen can help relieve those nagging aches and pains. But, if you’re like me, you may hesitate to take even over-the-counter medications. I’ve never been a fan of pills and I try to take as little medication as possible. The pill-leery population will be glad to hear a topical anti-inflammatory may be on the horizon.

While generally recognized as a safe medication, NSAID pills aren’t without their side effects. Common side effects of NSAIDs include upset stomach, rashes, heartburn and ulcers. The more pills you take and the more frequently you take them the greater your risk of dealing with side effects. Goodness knows you don’t want to jump from aching muscles from your run to an upset stomach from the NSAID you took for relief.

Topical treatments for muscle aches have been available for years. They’re either tingly cold or prickly hot and they’re pretty much universally smelly. But the topical form of NSAID isn’t designed to soothe muscle aches in the same way those stinky gels and creams. Instead, like the pill counterpart, the NSAID cream is an anti-inflammatory that gets to the root of your post-exercise pain.

Commonly available in Europe, topical NSAIDs have yet to hit US store shelves. Doctors, however, can prescribe a topical NSAID. Research on the safety of topical NSAIDs is still being conducted.

While waiting for the topical treatment, try some of these methods for easing exercise aches and pains.