Back pain is quite a common occurrence, it is difficult to find a person who is not faced with this problem.
Also characteristic is the perennial 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, dressings are actively advertised. This remedy for the treatment of the back has been known for a long time, but in recent years it has not seen great popularity until major manufacturers have taken hold of it.
In order to understand whether such patches are really effective, one must understand the possible causes of back pain.
Why is my back hurting?
Back pain can have many causes. The most harmless of them are minor injuries and sprains that a person can get during sports and during physical labor.
Although, in the absence of special attention to these 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 are remembered 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 treated, it does not manifest itself in any practical symptoms.
In the future, it is this disease that will become the cause of the development of various pain syndromes, the formation of intervertebral hernias, etc.
If back strain injuries can still be ignored by waiting for the moment when they stop causing pain, then it will not work with osteochondrosis - when its consequences are manifested, it is not possible to endure severe pain for a long time. and still have to go to the doctor.
In addition, if minor injuries are successfully removed with 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 illnesses, 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 of the affected area is well "warmed".
This "dry heat" improves blood circulation, due to which inflammation and edema decrease to a certain extent, resulting in a decrease in pressure on the compressed nerve root.
As a result, the pain syndrome decreases. Of course, this method in itself 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 overwhelming majority of folk recipes for back pain are based precisely on this warming effect of the affected area of the back. And with not too intense pain, such methods successfully cope, even if they do not allow you to get rid of the cause of their appearance.
Warming up as an alternative to tablets
When pain occurs in the back, doctors usually give preference to medication. And such methods in most cases involve the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which quickly relieve inflammation and reduce pain.
Therefore, NSAIDs primarily pursue one goal - to reduce pain, which they successfully cope with in most cases.
But these drugs have a serious drawback - the treatment of back diseases involves very long-term use of them, during 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 look for alternative methods of treatment.
First of all, they pay attention to gels and ointments, which can be found in large quantities in pharmacies.
But half of them in this case are not suitable, because 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 precisely the bandage, which is invisible, securely attached to the back and quite effectively relieves back pain.
Types of back patches
Pepper plaster
The oldest and "deserved" is the banal pepper plaster, known for a very 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 the 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 stick another bandage on it or apply a warming gel or ointment.
These shortcomings have become the reason for the search for alternative heating compositions which will be applied to the patch with no less efficiency.
Anesthesia without rewarming - NSAID patch
Several manufacturers, without further ado, decided to simply and gracefully bypass the problem of skin irritation - the same nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are simply applied to the patch, which are gradually absorbed into the skin and have their therapeutic effect. .
Thanks to this patch, back pain is eliminated quite quickly, the risk of irritation is minimal, and the overheating problem is not worth it either. But this patch also has drawbacks.
For example, they are certainly not suitable for those who prefer to do without "chemistry" if possible, since the main active ingredient is the same as in tablets, only it enters the body through the skin, all having the same side effects. unpleasant.
Reflected heat
Another option is plasters, which contain one or the other "reflective" coating. It is not so important as the manufacturer specifically called it, the essence is the same - the heat released by the human body is reflected and accumulated, which causes a warming effect.
Naturally, these dressings have practically no contraindications (since there is no active substance), but it is better to stick them not on the skin, but on the laundry.
"Miracle plasters" from China
There are a number of types of patches which have been developed in China on the basis of local traditional medicine. The composition of such a patch contains many plant components, each of which (in theory) should have a certain therapeutic effect.
Such a patch is a very good choice for lovers of "natural" treatment, its only drawback is its unconfirmed effectiveness.