Are Sports Creams a Waste of Money?

Over the counter sports creams containing salicylates as the main active ingredient are not effective and are, in fact, a waste of money. This is the conclusion of Oxford biochemist Andrew Moore, who lead a comprehensive review of all studies on the topic.

The review, published in the July Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, found little evidence that over the counter sports creams, such as Aspercreme, Ben Gay and Icy Hot have any effect at all on muscle aches and pain when compared with a placebo (sham treatment).

So, What Does Work?

According to Moore, some topical local anesthetics work. Topical capsaicin works, and some topical NSAIDs work for strains and sprains.

What Do You Think?

Are Sports creams effective? Are they a waste of money?
Share your opinion about sports creams.

Also See:

• Over-the-counter pain medication
• Sports creams
• Newwise Story about the study results.

_Source

_{Matthews P, et al. Topical rubefacients for acute and chronic pain in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Issue 3, 2009. [http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab007403.html].}