Muscle or joint pain is a very common occurrence in life. As a matter of fact, pain is one of a universal human experience and in the United States alone approximately 75 million people suffer from some kind of physical pain each day. It can be caused by many things like a muscle tear, joint sprain, overused muscle, disease (osteoarthritis), etc. Aside from treatment with drugs, there are many alternative treatments available. Since drugs can cause simply to severe side effects, most people prefer alternative treatments that are much safer and don’t come with side effects. Among the most popular alternative treatments is Biofreeze cold therapy pain relief. Let’s take a closer look at this pain relief product.
What is Biofreeze?
Biofreeze is essentially a product for pain relief. It uses a pain relief method which is known as “gating” or “gate control”. Biofreeze uses the gating method through the use of menthol to stimulate certain sensory receptors of the skin. When such sensory receptors are stimulated, other receptors that send pain signals to the brain are blocked.
Biofreeze is a product for the temporary relief of minor aches and pains or joints and muscles including a simple backache, bruises, strains, sprains, muscle soreness related to exercise and arthritis.
Ingredients
The active ingredient of Biofreeze is Menthol 3.5% which is used for gate control or gating. The product also contains camphor, glycerin, carbomer, FD&C yellow #5, FD&C blue #1, herbal extract (ILEX Paraguariensis), isopropyl alcohol, methylparaben, silicon dioxide, propylene glycol, triathanolamine, and water.
Advantages
The main advantage of Biofreeze is that it doesn’t come with the usual side effects of other pain medications. Unlike non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which are among the most common treatment for muscle and joint pain, Biofreeze can be used by everyone and can be obtained without a doctor’s prescription. NSAIDs can cause several side effects including nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, drowsiness, edema, kidney/liver failure, ulcers, and bleeding. Biofreeze is also scientifically proven to be effective and is backed up by several studies that are posted on the product’s website.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of Biofreeze is that it can cause allergic reactions to people with very sensitive skin. Another disadvantage of the product is that it is not available in all retail stores but can usually be bought from chiropractor’s offices. However, it can be ordered easily through their website.
Conclusion
Biofreeze is an excellent alternative treatment for minor muscle and joint pain. Several studies prove that this is a product that really works. The best thing about this product is that it doesn’t cause the usual side effects connected to other pain medications. This is definitely worth a try before turning to pain medication like NSAIDs
