Our muscles work all day long to keep us upright, seated, walking, or performing other movements. For the average person, these everyday movements rarely cause muscle or joint pain. When muscles are pulled or stretched unnaturally, however, or when increased stress is placed upon them, they respond by becoming sore or achy. “Increased stress” usually means a harder-than-usual workout, or time spent doing something labour-intensive like gardening, wall- papering or spring cleaning.

Joint pain can occur for a number of reasons - temporary or chronic. Temporary joint pain may result from a twist or pull, as in the case of a sprained ankle, and ongoing joint pain can be caused by osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.

Why Muscles Hurt
Muscle soreness is the result of tiny tears in the overworked muscle fibers. The body's defense mechanism responds to these microscopic tears by sending white cells to the site of the damage. Fluid containing these cells gathers around the tears, resulting in swelling. This swelling squeezes the nerve endings, causing soreness. The increased fluid also contributes to stiffness in the muscles and accompanying reduced motion. Swelling and soreness usually peak 48 hours after exercise - which is why you may notice increased pain on the second day following your workout or strenuous activity.

How Rubs Help
Whatever the nature of your muscle or joint pain, relief can almost always be found through use of a topical rub, formulated to ease aches and pains. Rubs come in a number of formulations, including “cold” and “hot.” In general, cold rubs immediately ease pain, while hot rubs provide a long-term soothing effect by stimulating circulation. New to the market is a rub that provides both cold and hot action in one application.

Dual Action Rubs
New Rub A535® Dual Action Rub and Dual Action Patch provide cold and hot relief for immediate and extended relief of aches and pains. The cream formulation is easily rubbed in, non-greasy and quickly absorbed. The convenient patch is soft and flexible and, like the rub, goes on cold for fast relief, turning hot for long-lasting relaxing warmth.

Natural Ingredients Help Relieve Pain
A number of naturally-occurring substances, including herbs that have stood the test of generations, help relieve muscle and joint pain. These include mint oil, teaberry leaves, eucalyptus oil and d-camphor. Let’s take a closer look at how these ingredients work:

• Mint oil has been used extensively in natural medicine to help relax muscles and provide a soothing sensation.
• Teaberry leaves have long been used in folk medicine to ease rheumatism and other aches. The active constituent found in the leaves and berries is methyl salicylate, which is closely related to salicylic acid - the forerunner of aspirin.
• Eucalyptus oil is another well-documented topical solution that helps reduce aches and pains, while providing a sensation of warmth.
• d-Camphor extracted from the Cinnamomum camphora plant, warms the skin by increasing local blood flow.

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