Back pain is a fairly common phenomenon; it’s hard to find someone who wouldn’t face this problem.
There is also the perpetual problem of the "lack of time" to see a doctor, according to which most people prefer self-medication, which uses actively advertised gels and ointments that eliminate back pain.
Along with these tools, plasters are also actively advertised. This treatment for back treatment has long been known, but it has not been very popular in recent years until it has been undertaken by major manufacturers.
In order to understand whether such patches are really effective, we need to understand the possible causes of back pain.
Why does my back hurt?
There can be several causes of back pain. The most harmless of these are the minor injuries and sprains that a person can get while playing sports and doing physical work.
However, in the absence of proper attention to such minor injuries, they can have very unpleasant "delayed" consequences that can affect the condition of the spinal cord and the musculoskeletal system itself.
But in the general case, such minor injuries are painful for several days, after which they gradually disappear.
But the most common cause of severe back pain is osteochondrosis and its consequences.
This disease is dangerous because it develops gradually and does not show any practical symptoms at an early stage, when it can still be treated successfully.
In the future, it is this disease that will be linked to the development of various pain syndromes, the development of intervertebral hernias, and so on.
If back microtraumas can still be ignored when we wait for the moment to stop causing the pain, it won’t work in osteochondrosis - when its consequences manifest, you can’t resist severe pain for a long time and still have to goto the doctor.
In addition, if minor injuries can be eliminated with improvised devices, severe back disease will need to be treated for years.
The main cause of pain in this disease is damage to the nerve roots of the spinal cord. Such compression can occur for a variety of reasons, but this compression causes almost all of the pain syndrome.
Warming effect in the treatment of back pain
When treating injuries or back diseases, doctors almost always recommend "dry heat" along with the necessary medications.
This usually means that the affected part of the body should be wrapped in a warm, braided cloth - so the back of the affected area will "warm up" well.
This "dry heat" improves blood circulation, which reduces inflammation and edema to some extent, leading to a decrease in pressure on the compressed nerve roots.
Accordingly, the pain syndrome decreases. Of course, this method alone will not cope with severe pain, but it is very suitable as a kind of aid.
Moreover, it should be noted that the vast majority of folk recipes for back pain are based on precisely this effect, which is the warming of the affected area of the back. And with less pain, such methods successfully cope, although they do not allow you to get rid of the cause of their occurrence.
Warming up as an alternative to tablets
If there is back pain, doctors usually prefer medication. Such methods in most cases involve the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which rapidly relieve inflammation and reduce pain.
Therefore, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs primarily pursue one goal - to reduce the pain that they successfully cope with in most cases.
But such drugs have serious drawbacks - the treatment of back diseases involves a very long-term application in which side effects begin to appear.
The most common of these effects is gastrointestinal disturbance. For example, treatment for a disc herniation can take up to a year, and taking NSAIDs can rarely last more than a month without significant consequences for the patient's body.
This leads to the fact that doctors are forced to prescribe such drugs at the minimum effective dose and have to look for alternative treatments.
First, they pay attention to gels and ointments that are in large quantities in pharmacies.
But half in this case is not appropriate because their overall effect is based on the effect of the same NSAIDs. "Warming" type ointments are much more expensive and less common.
Another popular alternative is precisely plaster, which is invisible, securely fastened to the back, and quite effectively relieves back pain.
Types of back spots
Pepper plaster
The oldest and "deserved" is the banal pepper plaster, which has been known for a very long time. The principle of action is simple and clear - a special pepper composition is applied to the sticky surface, which has an irritating and warming effect when it touches the skin.
Perhaps the only disadvantage of such a patch is the excessive aggressiveness of the pepper, which can lead to severe skin irritation if the rule of the patch is violated the slightest.
And this will severely limit the treatment options - the inflamed area cannot be massaged, no more glue can be applied to it, or a warming gel or ointment can be applied.
These shortcomings have led to the search for alternative warming compositions that are no less effective in applying the patch.
Anesthesia without heating - NSAID patch
Several manufacturers have decided without further ado to simply and gracefully circumvent the problem of skin irritation - the patch simply uses the same non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are gradually absorbed into the skin and have a therapeutic effect.
Thanks to this patch, the back pain disappears fairly quickly, the risk of irritation is minimal, and the issue of overheating is not worth it. But this fix also has drawbacks.
For example, they are definitely not suitable for those who prefer to do without "chemistry" if possible, as the main active ingredient is the same as the tablets, it only enters the body through the skin, with the same unpleasant side effects.
Reflective heat
Another option is plasters that contain one or the other "reflective" coating. Not as important as the manufacturer specifically called it, the point is the same - the heat released by the human body is reflected and accumulated, resulting in a warming effect.
Of course, such plasters have virtually no contraindications (since there is no active ingredient), but it is better if they are glued not to the skin but to the bedding.
"Miracle Patches" from China
Several types of patches have been developed in China based on local traditional medicine. The composition of such a patch contains many herbal components, each of which (in theory) must achieve a certain therapeutic effect.
Such a patch is a very good choice for lovers of "natural" treatment, the only drawback is the unconfirmed effectiveness.