Bob Ross

I was recently gifted a tube of Voltaren pain relief gel, and started wondering if applying that to my chronically-crunchy, one-epic-ride-away-from-requiring-a-TKR knees -- either immediately after a ride, or prophylactically before starting a ride -- might help.

Anyone ever use this stuff? Did it do anything? So far I've only been trying it on my arthritic hands, and tbh I'm not sure I can tell if it's having any effect.

Thanks.

tomato coupe

I've used it many times over the years. It's not as potent as a cortisone injection, but more targeted than ibuprofen.

VegasTriker

Yes, I have used it but always hated the noxious smell of the Voltaren brand. That was enough to make it a last resort, It was prescription-only until recently and very expensive. The copay was about $50 for a 3.5 oz tube until the patent on Dichlofenac, the active ingredient,expired and generic versions became available. The generic versions I have does not stink like Voltaren and can be found at Walmart at reasonable prices. BTW, the cost of Voltaren in Europe was less than $10 for the same size tube at twice the concentration of active ingredient. Typical rip-off by the drug company who made it.

DiabloScott

I started using Voltaren after knee surgery for broken patella. Switched to generic versions. My doctor said it's mostly for arthritis (which I don't have) but that it might help with my crunchy knee, so I rub some in the night before and the morning of my tougher rides with climbing. Seemed to help some, but I also rub in Icy Hot and take ibuprofen so I'm not sure what the specific effectiveness is.

RH Clark

I've used it before, but I have better results with a low inflammation diet and some yoga. This from a guy who did injections and pain pills for more than 10 years. No injections or pills now for over 5.
This guy has helped me a lot. He is not just a youtuber but is recommended by many doctors.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGy...3W6URh42sdMQiw

RB1-luvr

I used it for about six months on my knee, but did not get much help, if any from it. I also tried a red light therapy torch, to no avail.

Artmo 

Yes, it's Voltarol in the UK and over-the-counter concentration is 2.3% vs US 1%. I've used it and haven't noticed a particularly offensive smell, unlike menthol in some rubs, which pervades everything. I don't find it particularly effective even at 2.3% on my arthritic thumb joint. I did try CBT and it made my thumb pain worse!

badger1

Heh. I tried Voltaren -- once -- on my bad lower back some years ago. Never found out if it worked (or would work) or not.

Mrs. Badger applied the gel; within 15 minutes or so I became severely diaphoretic, irregular heartbeat, nausea, pupils dilated, world began spinning ... then confusion (couldn't remember where I was). Ended up going to ER by ambulance to get checked out. Had a cardiac workup etc. Conclusion was that I was one of the unlucky individuals who can have this kind of reaction to the stuff.

Took about three days for all the symptoms to subside, iirc. Not an experience I would care to repeat!

Dudelsack 

I’ve had some success with the OTC lidocaine patches. Salonpas makes small flexible patches that might help.

fat biker

Mine is the generic 1%, mixed results on a sore/strained shoulder.

zandoval 

As a health care provider and an old guy who suffers osteoarthritis pain Voltarin has not helped much at all. I have seen it work well in those who are not active. Maybe thats the ticket. It is a topical agent so at best its going to reduce inflammation down to the subcutaneous tissues. Some arthritic pain comes from those areas so it will help.

For active people with arthritic pain Oral Diclofenac works wonders. It is not as fast for reducing pain as Naproxin but Diclofenac is more gut friendly. There are two oral versions of Diclofenac that I know of. Diclofenac Sodium and Diclofenac Potasium. For pain relief Diclofenac Potasium works faster. And in the form of Zipsor (Brand Name Gel Cap) almost as good as a narcotic.

Now these are just my personal observations. One thing we all must consider is that sometimes we are just not going to be Pain Free. Often I find myself just using therapy's in the hope that there will be some kind of synergistic effect. That's why I continue Diclofenac Oral in conjunction with Glucosamine/Chondroitin. Are they having an effect? Yes. But its subtle. If stop taking my Oral NSAID and Glucosamine/Chondroitin for seven days I will definitely notice a difference.

Lucky for us cycling is not as bone destructive as running, or hiking, or waking down hill. But if after a ride if your knee is hot, swollen, and painful, then RATS! Throw on some Voltarin topical, take your NSAID, tylenol, glucosamine/chondroitin, along with three cloves of garlic in a dirty wool sock around your neck... Anything ya can... And yep... Prayer works too... I feel for ya buddy...

As far as Topical agents for relief of knee pain there are some promising veterinary studies going on right now in use of topical Meloxicam with DMSO. Nothing published yet that I can find, but I am looking.

Update 2024-03-09, found this article from NIH dated 2011: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3141840/

plumberroy

It was given to me for my feet. And like everyone else here it's not helping. The only topical I have found that does anything to help is Tiger Balm

Bob Ross

fwiw the tube I got came from Mexico; it's labeled "Voltaren" but all the instructions are in Spanish. It's 2.3%


I stopped using a Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM supplement years ago because I could never convince myself it was having any effect...except when I stopped using it for ~7 days. But, I had to have been using it for at least 2 months continuously before that, or I wouldn't even notice a 7 day stoppage.

WaveyGravey

People are swearing by turmeric.

tomato coupe

I found Voltaren to be quite effective.

laxpatrick

Agree with post below.

Talking to others with the topical, you have to be very regular/religious to get benefits. Oral was a game changer - Diclovenac Sodium helped me at least function prior to my TKR. Can recommend, I didn't have any stomach issues.

Also tried Relafen - didn't seem to be nearly as effectve as DS...

canklecat

I've tried Voltaren and generic diclofenac twice, in 2018 after I was hit by a car (broken and dislocated shoulder, re-injured neck which was first broken in 2001), and recently for recurring neck, shoulder and, now, new flareup of hip and quad pain. I can't say it has any effect at all on me. But my insurance covers a lot of OTC pharmacy stuff, including topical analgesics, so I might try it again.

In 2018 my problem was pain from a fresh injury, not inflammation, so I needed real pain meds, not anti-inflammatories. Unfortunately due to the opioid scare, health care practitioners are no longer honest about pain relief and are pressured to pretend that ibuprofen and acetaminophen do the same thing (they don't -- one is a mild anti-inflammatory, the other is a mild analgesic), and are adequate substitutes for Tramadol or hydrocodone (not even close).

Same reason they used to push gabapentin as a substitute for pain meds, despite research stating that it's only minimally useful for some types of neurological pain and there's no evidence that it's useful for migraine, pain due to injuries, arthritis, etc. And now some health care systems have begun to restrict gabapentin as an controlled substance. They can't practice medicine anymore using their own judgment due to pressure from the government and media hysteria.

I've had better and quicker -- albeit temporary -- results with Stopain roll-on and Ted's Pain Cream. Both contain MSM, among other common ingredients. But I suspect the skin sensation merely distracts us from the pain for 15 minutes to an hour at most.

The problem with topical analgesics is they cannot penetrate the skin barrier in healthy, unbroken skin. That's what skin does. That's why we can be exposed to or handle so many potentially hazardous materials with little or no effect, which might be harmful in contact with broken or compromised skin.

The exception may be topical analgesics that contain MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) or DMSO, which can penetrate the skin barrier. When I worked in health care as a lab tech back in the 1970s we used DMSO to prep human and animal tissues for research and preservation, and one trick we all tried at least once was to apply DMSO directly to the skin and see how long it took to detect a garlic taste in the mouth. Theoretically DMSO could be used to transport poisonous or toxic materials across the skin barrier, and I remember reading a fiction book about someone being killed with concentrated tobacco extract in a DMSO carrier, sprayed or doused on the victim. No idea whether that's actually possible, but it's likely the Spy vs. Spy guys in government and military agencies have tested it.

However for years DMSO has been readily available in farm and ranch supply stores, mostly as horse liniment, and became popular as a folk remedy for arthritis among rural folks. If DMSO was really dangerous we'd have heard more warnings and it would have been withdrawn from the market or regulated for safety. DMSO can cause skin irritation in sensitive people.

MSM is slightly less effective than DMSO as a skin barrier penetrant, but much less likely to cause skin irritation. It's a common carrier in many OTC topical analgesics. Check the label carefully because some major brands, such as Blue Emu, have MSM in *some* products but not all. Same with the overrated CBD and hemp topicals -- I've never found one that contains MSM.

I usually apply Stopain first to prime the skin, then Votaren or CBD (I usually prefer Lazarus Naturals high potency full spectrum, which contains a minimal amount of THC, the usual 0.3% that passes federal scrutiny and is somewhat effective for some people).

This helps a little on surface level pain: my neck where I have severe cervical spine stenosis and spondylosis; and arthritic wrists and thumb joints. It does nothing for deeper pain covered by muscle, and doesn't seem to help with muscle pain. Nothing has helped the deep pain in my left quad that resulted from running the past few years and suddenly worsened a few months ago.

The massage from applying topical analgesics probably helps as much as any ingredient in the topicals. I get about the same relief from my percussion massagers -- minimal and short-lived.

Here's why I'm skeptical about some topical analgesics, notably Voltaren/diclofenac, and even Ted's Pain Cream -- these all recommend repeated use, a few times a day, for two weeks or longer.

The problem with ascribing pain relief to that protocol is that it's akin to those folks remedies about curing the common cold -- vitamin C, zinc, chicken soup, whatever. The usual folk remedies claim that if you use these magical potions your cold will be over with in only 5-7 days. Otherwise, without treatment, it can drag on for a whole week!

If our localized pain is relieved after two weeks using Voltaren... maybe it was just time and rest that did the real work.

When I first tried Ted's Pain Cream back in 2018 or 2019, the directions specified that it should be applied a few times a day for about two weeks to evaluate any long-term relief. However, the difference is that the manufacturer specified that in his potion, it's the resveratrol doing the real work of "resetting" pain nerves that are stuck in pain mode long after an injury has healed. I liked the theory and tried it a few times.

But it's possible my neck and shoulder injury and pain are too severe for any topical analgesic to be effective. So I might not be the ideal candidate for these therapies.

Anyway, I've pretty much given up on topicals. I can't take ibuprofen or any NSAID daily -- after three days I develop psoriasis flareups, especially in my scalp, sometimes between my fingers. Recently it's worsened to the point that the psoriasis rash extends to my upper eyelids, dangerously close to my eyes. So I won't use NSAIDs again unless there's absolutely no alternative. I don't get that response to prednisone and for the past few years have needed prednisone or methylprednisolone once or twice a year for inflammation in my sinuses and joints. It works but screws up my endocrine system (I also have Hashimoto's thyroid disease and had thyroid cancer several years ago).

Acetaminophen kinda works for minor to moderate pain, but I've taken at least 500 of those damned things since last autumn -- that's when I bought a bottle of 500 capsules, which I just finished last week. That's a helluva lotta acetaminophen and if I live long enough it'll probably kill my kidneys. But we don't get many alternatives.

If acetaminophen doesn't work I'll used CBD or kratom. The latter two have been effective for me for the past five or six years. I still dislike taking them because they interfere with my normal energy level, but all pain management involves some compromise. On the plus side, CBD and kratom in reasonable doses don't appear to have any long-term negative consequences, although there isn't much long-term research to back up the anecdotes of folks who use these.

Personally I'd rather have Tramadol or hydrocodone, but in the current political and cultural climate asking for those is an invitation to be treated like a junkie.

I've also had injections in my neck for spondylosis and stenosis pain, but those barely had any effect. The doctor suggested a nerve block that basically zaps the nerve and supposedly works for a few months, but I'm not persuaded it'll work any better than the local analgesic injections which were given to test the efficacy and satisfy my insurance requirements. The only alternative is surgery to remove some bone in my spine to reduce pressure on the nerves, but they won't authorize that until it becomes bad enough to cause partial paralysis or incontinence.

lex further

I always make sure to keep Voltaren at home; I've been using it for years now. According to the information I found on the Canadian Pharmacy website, Voltaren is the best remedy when it comes to easing inflammation and relieving pain. It's been a reliable go-to for me whenever I need relief from muscle or joint discomfort.