Icy Hot: Does It Actually Work | SiOWfa16: Science In Our World

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In high school after a tough workout, long practice, or physical game my body would always feel sore and broken down. As busy as my schedule was, there was no time to take off and rest for a week or go to the doctor. Icy Hot turned into my best friend, and go-to treatment method because it was fast, easy and I believed  it worked. I started to use Icy Hot almost everyday and put it practically everywhere on my body. For example I used it my back, legs, shoulders and neck and I must admit it actually made me feel better at that moment.

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Icy Hot is a pain reliever in the form of a cream, gel, or spray which is used on arthritis pain, hurting muscles, and aching joints on the body. The chemical composition of Icy Hot is a combination of menthol, methyl salicylate, and capsaicin. This product is one of the most successful and popular muscle relief solutions sold in the world today as they have sold over $275 million just last year. So does this product actually work? The truth is, this product doesn’t actually help heal your bodies soreness. Icy Hot is an anesthetic which means its purpose is to block the nervous system and brain so you can’t feel your previous pain, the only thing you feel is the cream on your body. This is done because the methanol reveals a cooling sensation where as the capsaicin demonstrates a hot, burning feeling on the body. When it turns cold  the pain is dulled and when it is hot the muscles relax. Going from hot to cold actually distracts a person from feeling the pain because all they are so focused on the change in temperatures rather than any other injured body part. This treatment tricks the brain so a person doesn’t end up feeling the soreness in their muscles. Icy Hot seems effective but in reality it only causes short term pain relief. Rubbing the cream on your skin won’t heal your muscles or treat them. It seems Icy Hot has more of a placebo affect because when someone puts it on they seem to feel better automatically.

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The conclusion on whether Icy-Hot is a scam or a effective product is very controversial. The null hypothesis  is there is nothing going on when Icy Hot is appropriately used and doesn’t benefit or help heal the body. Many people do accept the null hypothesis because in the long run there is no healing of the body. According to the American College of Sports Medicine in Indianapolis there isn’t enough proof or evidence to prove Icy Hot even works. They believe the only scientific test to provide a link between Icy Hot and muscle, joint healing is a double blind placebo test. This would mean there would be two groups. The injured members of one group would be given a cream or gel that doesn’t contain the chemical composition of Icy Hot and the other group of sore individuals will be given the actual product. If members of the control group which used Icy Hot felt better then we would know it actually works. According to Steve Cagle, the president of a company who produces analgesics conducted a study in 2003 and discovered  the people who use this who have muscle pain are more relieved and feel better after using a muscle relieving gel.

After my research I do think Icy Hot is an effective product to relive pain because it can take your mind of the real injury as you just think about the cold to hot sensations going on. I don’t think the product can heal or prevent injuries because the chemical composition is only made up of anesthetics which trigger your brain into thinking about something else. I still will use Icy Hot because personally it has cleared up my aches and pains and has definitely had a positive effect on my body.

Citations

http://www.houmatoday.com/entertainment/20090509/do-those-muscle-creams-really-ease-pain

www.nytimes.com/20090507health/nutrition/fitness

www.study.com/what-is-a-null-hypothosis-defeniton-examples