Treating neck pain with topical compounds is a useful way to manage your chronic neck pain without the need for an opioid painkiller. Millions of people suffer from neck pain, and many of them are not even aware of the cause of neck pain. The neck pain can be due to any injury or muscle contraction. The neck pain can even occur because of people’s funny sleeping styles and when they wake up they realize that they can’t even move or turn their neck. This is going to affect their work and routine life.
So what will they do to cure the neck pain? They rely on aspirin, ibuprofen, or other narcotic painkillers which can be addictive if taken for a longer period. The painkillers cause side effects as well like stomach upset, heartburn, nausea, and if taken for the long run it may cause kidney problems or heart stroke.
Treating neck pain can be easy with a topical compound!
Many patients cannot handle oral analgesics as they are allergic to it. For these patients, the best solution is having a compounding pharmacy put together- some different medications with varying mechanisms of action into a compounded cream that is applied directly over the site of pain. And such medications are called topical analgesics or they are even called ‘topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs’ (NSAIDs), or just ‘topical anti-inflammatory.’
Treating Neck Pain
Treating neck pain with topical analgesics is not only for people allergic to the oral medication, but it is good for every individual. In fact, topical pain reliever is better than oral painkillers with regards to treating neck pain.
Topical anti-inflammatories are available as gels, gel patches, sprays, or foams. They contain an anti-inflammatory medicine such as ibuprofen, diclofenac, felbinac, ketoprofen, or piroxicam and come in various brand names. Other creams and ointments are available to ease muscle pains, strains, and sprains – for example, capsaicin.
Topical pain relievers react faster in minimizing your pain than the oral medications. Oral painkillers have effect on all of the body while you can apply topical cream or gels directly on the area of pain- neck,
When they are applied, they are absorbed by your skin and hence move deeper into the field of the body where there is pain or inflammation. They relieve you from neck pain sooner than the oral inflammatory medicines.
Treating neck pain without medications such as topical compounds can be difficult!
Treating Neck Pain With Topicals
Using topical cream, gels or patches means that the total amount of anti-inflammatory in your body is low, and this means that there are fewer chances of any side effects of this medicine.
You can apply topical analgesic two or four times in a day to cure mild to moderate pain. Be careful that the drug is not exposed to your eyes, nose, or other mucous membranes, so for that wash your hands properly after use of topical gels or creams or patches.
Advantages of topical creams are:
- Application directly to pain receptors
- Gives relief faster than oral pain relievers
- Pain is relieved at a steady rate, and relief lasts longer.
- Non-addictive formulations
- Good for people who have difficulty swallowing pills or allergic to pills.
Learn more about neck pain from the Mayo Clinic!
Do you currently suffer from neck pain? How do you treat your chronic neck pain? Tell us below in the comments!