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Muscle creams, who uses them.
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just a thread asking about whether people use the cooling/warming gels to apply to the body after strenuous runs, interested to know how people find them or what they think regarding them.
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I've used gels post run but only when I've had an injury. I'd make sure I'd cooled down properly first (and washed/showered) as applying creams to heat up my skin after running wasn't top of my list! I'd use deeep heat. I've tried the freeze-gels/sprays before but didn't rate them, a bag of frozen peas works much, much better!
I didn't really rate the creams/gels/sprays but I thats probably because my injuries were quite advanced. (Without realising I'd been trying to treat things like a stress fracture and also when I sprained my ankle I thought it would help: the injury would have been too advanced for either to really do very much at all). If you've pulled a muscle or overworked an area I'd think they may help because the idea with heat sprays/gels/whatever is to cause you to relax your muscles and relaxed muscles are less likely to hurt.
Freeze sprays work for some people when the area is injured and has begun to heat up because the injury if its fresh will become inflammed but again, frozen peas or even ice water (eg leg/foot injury rather then a back injury!) does seem to do more.
I guess its about seeing if they work for you but cheaper options are using real ice/frozen things or using a hot water bottle.
Never use them as i'm a fan of peas and an icepack if i need to use it. I like the smell though