Topical analgesics for spinal stenosis are treatments which are applied to the skin in order to reduce the severity of symptoms. Topical analgesics are widely utilized for treating many varieties of back and neck pain, but are they effective or even logical for spinal stenosis sufferers?
What are topical analgesics? Which one is best for providing pain relief? Most importantly, are these products a complete waste of time when it comes to treating spinal stenosis? We will explore the answers to these questions in the sections below in order to help patients make better informed therapy decisions.
This dialog examines the use of topical pain medications and herbal products to treat pain associated with spinal stenosis. We will provide a pro and con analysis of topical pain management products when used specifically for spinal stenosis and foraminal stenosis expressions.
Topical Pain Products for Spinal Stenosis Explained
Topical analgesics are medications that work to reduce pain and are applied to the skin, rather than taken internally via oral route or injection. Topical medications can come in many different types, including prescription pharmaceutical drugs, OTC pharmaceutical drugs, all-natural and herbal topical treatments and even homemade topical therapies.
Furthermore, there are many forms of topical medications, including creams, ointments, balms, salves, oils, patches, compresses, liniments, foams, gels, lotions and other varieties. Many topical products simulate the effect of heat or ice when it comes to the feeling they provide and the benefits they may facilitate.
Topical pain products are not designed to relieve neurological expressions of spinal stenosis such as tingling, numbness or weakness due to innervation concerns. Therefore, for the sake of this essay, we will merely evaluate them on their ability to reduce pain.
Efficacy of Topical Treatments
Spinal stenosis causes pain due to compression of the spinal cord and/or spinal nerve roots. Therefore, most of the symptoms will exist deep in the body and will not be affected by most topical pain medications. This fact makes it seem unlikely that topical medications should be indicated for spinal stenosis pain. However, many patients suffer pain in the superficial tissues of the body as well due to muscular and fascia issues. These symptoms might respond well to the use of topical analgesics and therefore provide a reason to try… Many patients report that topical analgesics for spinal stenosis are about as effective as ice or heat therapy.
Topical analgesics are not often extremely effective for relieving stenosis-related symptoms. But, since they can reduce some types of associated pain, many patients use them as part of a combined care approach to treating spinal stenosis due to the obvious advantages over other types of pain management practices, as detailed in the section below.
Topical Pain Products for Spinal Stenosis Pros and Cons
Topical medications are popular for many reasons. Regardless of what variety they might be, most topical treatments provide the following advantages compared to other forms of treatment:
Most are easy to buy and cheap. The vast majority do not require a prescription. Almost all topical drugs are safe and have few contraindicating factors when used as directed, making them almost universally applicable for spinal stenosis patients.
Topical medications usually do not have any serious risk factors to consider. This is in stark contrast to more common oral and injection based drugs, which are incredibly toxic and hazardous to overall health and wellbeing.
Topical medications are complementary to other popular forms of constructive, conservative care, such as chiropractic, massage, reiki, exercises and physical therapy.
Some prescription drugs that come in patch form might be absorbed into the bloodstream and work similar to oral route drugs, instead of the topical products detailed in this essay.
On the downside, topical medications will rarely provide substantial relief. Most will only help to relax surface tissues and take the edge of pain in some areas of the body. Being that each patient might have a different experience using topical analgesics, it is certainly worth trying them to see how well they perform. There is little to lose and the possibility of considerable pain management benefits without risk to gain.
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