Back pain is a fairly common phenomenon, it is difficult to find a person who does not cope with this problem.
Characteristic is also the eternal problem of "lack of time" to go to the doctor, according to which most people prefer self-medication, for which they use actively advertised gels and ointments that eliminate back pain.
Along with these means, the patches are actively advertised. This back treatment remedy has been known for a long time, but in recent years it hasn't enjoyed much popularity until the big manufacturers have adopted it.
To understand if these patches are really effective, it is necessary to understand the possible causes of back pain.
Why does my back hurt?
Back pain can have many causes. The most harmless are minor injuries and sprains that a person can get during sports and during physical work.
Although, in the absence of due attention to such minor injuries, they can have very unpleasant "delayed" consequences, affecting the condition of the muscular corset of the back and the musculoskeletal system itself.
But in the general case, such minor injuries remind themselves with pain 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 in the early stages, when it can still be successfully dealt with, does not manifest itself with any practical symptoms.
In the future, it is this disease that becomes the cause of the development of various painful syndromes, the formation of intervertebral hernias, and so on.
If microtraumas of the back can still be ignored while waiting for the moment when they stop causing pain, then it will not work with osteochondrosis - when its consequences manifest, severe pain cannot be endured for a long time and has yet to go. to the doctor.
In addition, if minor injuries are successfully eliminated by improvised means, severe back diseases need to be treated for years.
The main cause of pain in this disease is the violation of the nerve roots of the spinal cord. Such compression can occur for various reasons, but it is this compression that causes almost all pain syndromes.
Warming effect in the treatment of back pain
When treating back injuries or diseases, doctors almost always recommend "dry heat" along with the necessary medications.
This usually means wrapping the affected part of the body with a warm fluffy scarf, so that the back on the affected area is well "warmed".
This "dry heat" improves blood circulation, due to which inflammation and edema decrease to some extent, which leads to a decrease in pressure on the compressed nerve root.
As a result, the pain syndrome decreases. Of course, this method alone will not cope with severe pain, but it is quite suitable as a kind of auxiliary means.
In addition, it can be noted that the vast majority of folk recipes for back pain are based precisely on this effect of warming the affected area of the back. And with not too intense pain, such methods successfully cope, although they do not allow you to get rid of the cause of their occurrence.
Warm up as an alternative to tablets
When back pain occurs, doctors usually give preference to medications. And such methods in most cases involve the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which quickly relieve inflammation and reduce pain.
Therefore, NSAIDs mainly pursue one goal - to reduce pain, with which in most cases they successfully cope.
But such drugs have a serious drawback - the treatment of back diseases involves long-term use of them, in which side effects begin to appear.
The most common of these effects is disruption of the gastrointestinal tract. So, for example, the treatment of a herniated disc can last up to a year, and taking NSAIDs without significant consequences for the patient's body can rarely last more than a month.
This leads to the fact that doctors are forced to prescribe such drugs in the minimum effective doses and to seek alternative methods of treatment.
First of all, they pay attention to gels and ointments, which are in large quantities in pharmacies.
But half of them in this case are not suitable, since their entire effect is based on the action of all the same NSAIDs. Ointments of a "warming" nature are much more expensive and less common.
Another popular alternative now is the patch itself, which is invisible, firmly attached to the back and relieves back pain quite effectively.
Types of back patches
Pepper plaster
The most ancient and "deserved" is the banal pepper plaster, known for a long time. The principle of action is simple and clear: a special composition of pepper is applied to the sticky surface, which has an irritating and warming effect when it touches the skin.
Perhaps the only drawback of such a patch is the excessive aggressiveness of pepper, which, at the slightest violation of the rules for using the patch, can lead to severe skin irritation.
And this will seriously limit the possibilities of treatment: the inflamed area cannot be massaged, it is no longer possible to attach another patch to it or apply a warming gel or ointment.
These shortcomings have become the reason for the search for alternative heating compositions that will be applied to the patch with no less efficiency.
Anesthetize without heating - NSAID patch
Several manufacturers, without further ado, decided to get around the problem of skin irritation simply and gracefully - the same non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are simply applied to the patch, which are gradually absorbed into the skin and have their own therapeutic effect.
Thanks to this patch, back pain is removed quickly enough, the risk of irritation is minimal, and the problem of overheating is also not worth it. But this patch also has drawbacks.
For example, they are definitely not suitable for those who prefer to do without "chemistry" if possible, since the main active ingredient is the same as the tablets, only that it enters the body through the skin, all having the same unpleasant side effects.
Reflex heat
Another option are patches, which contain one or the other "reflective" coating. It is not as important as the manufacturer specifically called it, the essence is the same - the heat released by the human body is reflected and accumulated, due to which a warming effect appears.
Of course, such patches have practically no contraindications (since there is no active substance), but it is better to stick them not on the skin, but on the linen.
"Miraculous Cerami" from China
There are numerous types of patches that have been developed in China based on traditional local medicine. The composition of such a patch contains many plant components, each of which (in theory) should have a certain therapeutic effect.
This patch is an excellent choice for lovers of "natural" treatment, its only drawback is its unconfirmed effectiveness.