Joint & Muscle Therapy Cream

Let's get something straight from the get-go; Penetrex is a pain reliever (even said so on the label) and as a pain reliever, it works surprisingly well. However, many customer placed too much faith in the creme as a "cure-all" for their disorders/diseases/pain (basing on the 3 stars reviews and lower). In my perspective, Penetrex works by keeping your pain at bay so YOU can find and fix the underlying problems. And there lies the problem. There is a major emphasis on the YOU part. Now to paint my scenario. I was diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome by two different clinics. The pain became so unbearable that I was limited to upper body exercises for three whole months. Usually in these cases, icing and rest would be prescribed, and since X-rays and MRI both showed no signs of abnormalities, ice and rest seemed like the only logical solution. I too was under the impression that my knee would recover in time but as the clock ticked, long car rides and extensive sittings became more and more unbearable. After 3 months of doing nothing, I took it upon myself to find a solution and after extensive reading and tinkering and soul searching, it seems my vastus medialis (inner quadriceps muscle) was at fault. This "little fault" caused a myriad of messes: My lateralis tightened up, I always felt a tug in my right hip flexor, and because of the tug, my t-spine (I'm a nerd, I know) would prematurely round when I squat. EMG results confirmed my hypothesis; my VMO would shut down as soon as I ventured beyond parallel during any sort of exercises. Now that I am armed with this discovery, I was ready to make drastic changes. The only drawback was the massive, excruciating pain that accompanied rehab and therapy work, even the lightest workload, such as bodyweight squat and peterson step-up. That's when I discovered Penetrex. The creme allowed me to progressively strengthen my VMO, without having to endure the torment. Here is another scenario: My friend who is currently suffering from a similar knee issue. His VMO rides even higher than mine, almost 4 inches above the kneecap. He is a long distance runner and I am a powerlifter. Two people from two different sports, suffering from the same problem. After convincing him to drop running for a while (athletes can be very hard-headed) and go through an extensive rehab program, his kneecap no longer slides and I bet with a little more time, the pain will disappear altogether. Yes, I do wholeheartedly recommend Penetrex for all acute injuries (and some chronic). I came to realize that there are a certain few customers who view Penetrex as nothing more than a glorified DMSO product, and to a certain extent, I agree with them. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing! Pure DMSO is extremely potent and works well to ease tendinitis and other symptoms. I myself have used DMSO but found that with multiple applications in a day, even with less potent concentration and/or mixes, it tends to eat away the skin fairly fast. Penetrex does not do this and eventually you have to ramp up the dosage (while doing rehab work, of course) to speed up the healing process. Whether it is straight DMSO or Penetrex, like I said, YOU will have to play a huge part in the recovery stage. Do not expect to dabble on the creme and by some miracle, your tendinitis will dissipate. If you play golf and suffer from elbow and back pain, common sense would dictate that you take some time off and REALLY find that kink in your kinetic chain. Common sense also tells us that golfing is a very one-sided sport, so wouldn't it make sense to focus on a bit of weight training to strength the oblique/back muscles and biceps/triceps? If you're a long distance runner and are suffering from knee pain, don't continue grinding your knees to dust! Stop running and find the underlying problem! Take up weightlifting to strengthen the entire posterior chain; more muscle = less force absorption on the knees when the feet hit the ground. And judging from the numerous runners who are diagnosed with some kind of patella problem, the VMO is at fault. This review should not be viewed as me chastising or as a lecture but as me sharing one of my humble life experiences :) We all have to do things that we hate and being a strength athlete who absolutely loved to squat, it was heartbreaking and a blow to my ego when I was reduced to doing peterson step-ups and body weight lunges. If you truly love what you do, be it golfing, running, lifting, or playing competitive sports, then do everything in your power to make sure you can continuing doing what you're doing!

This is one of my favorite joint and muscle pain relievers! It works great and helps relieve any discomfort in my joints!

I've been using this now for 2 weeks, and am downgrading my rating from 5 to 4. I think it may be working somewhat, but after 2 weeks, I'm definitely not dramatically better. I do like having something to rub on there that seems vaguely soothing and may be helpful, but I was hoping for more. Also, from the product description online, I thought DMSO was the top ingredient. Looking at DMSO products, many people reported pain relief. And it's well known that DMSO is effective transdermally, and carries other ingredients through the skin. But it's also reported to smell fishy. So I figured Penetrex had solved that problem. Penetrex does smell fine, but DMSO is pretty far down the list of ingredients on the jar itself. The top ingredient is water, and the next one is Arnica. My original review: I've got acute tennis elbow. In searching for how this product could produce the results many are reporting (and a few denying) I came across a helpful passage on this page:[oops, I guess I can't put the link. I'll edit to say I just Googled DMSO, and read the top result.] I'll update later with my results. I'm giving it a 5 star rating in anticipation, but will change it if warranted. "DMSO Penetrates Membranes and Eases Pain The first quality that struck Dr. Jacob about the drug was its ability to pass through membranes, an ability that has been verified by numerous subsequent researchers.1 DMSO's ability to do this varies proportionally with its strength--up to a 90 percent solution. From 70 percent to 90 percent has been found to be the most effective strength across the skin, and, oddly, performance drops with concentrations higher than 90 percent. Lower concentrations are sufficient to cross other membranes. Thus, 15 percent DMSO will easily penetrate the bladder.2 In addition, DMSO can carry other drugs with it across membranes. It is more successful ferrying some drugs, such as morphine sulfate, penicillin, steroids, and cortisone, than others, such as insulin. What it will carry depends on the molecular weight, shape, and electrochemistry of the molecules. This property would enable DMSO to act as a new drug delivery system that would lower the risk of infection occurring whenever skin is penetrated. DMSO perhaps has been used most widely as a topical analgesic, in a 70 percent DMSO, 30 percent water solution. Laboratory studies suggest that DMSO cuts pain by blocking peripheral nerve C fibers.3 Several clinical trials have demonstrated its effectiveness,4,5 although in one trial, no benefit was found.6 Burns, cuts, and sprains have been treated with DMSO. Relief is reported to be almost immediate, lasting up to 6 hours. A number of sports teams and Olympic athletes have used DMSO, although some have since moved on to other treatment modalities. When administration ceases, so do the effects of the drug. Dr. Jacob said at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Health in 1980, "DMSO is one of the few agents in which effectiveness can be demonstrated before the eyes of the observers....If we have patients appear before the Committee with edematous sprained ankles, the application of DMSO would be followed by objective diminution of swelling within an hour. No other therapeutic modality will do this." Chronic pain patients often have to apply the substance for 6 weeks before a change occurs, but many report relief to a degree they had not been able to obtain from any other source."

I ordered this out of desperation -- since for various reasons (I'm unable to tolerate stinging/stinking topicals plus I want to keep avoiding ibuprofen/NSAIDs, & oral drugs). I really wasn't expecting the stuff to help at all. But it did help some. Not completely, maybe more like a 30% reduction in knee pain -- so it's making the pain easier to deal with. I've had no stinging. It doesn't stink. I'm not thrilled about the seemingly high price for what you get. Really... It's more like a 4-star item, but I'm giving it 5 stars since I was surprised it helped some & with no drawbacks except the price.

rock sauce is about the same, and I could feel the penetration more

I weighed heavily, being a skeptic, writing this and how I was going to write it. Please take it as seriously reading it, as I am being, writing it. It is written with you in mind. Tennis elbow I guess, I am like millions of Americans without health care, and cannot afford to see "specialists" to cure what ails me. I have seen a doctor for my elbow, and costochondritis which had been going on for a couple of years. I did my research and found out about Penetrex. Now let me say for a moment here that I was very much a skeptic that some sort of cream was going to help me as this elbow/forearm injury, and an ongoing issue with pain in my chest... actually I wasn't thinking of the costochondritis as being something that could/would be affected. I wish to say that when I ordered it a few weeks ago, I WAS encouraged by the money back guarantee, and others' reviews. I was desperate, I use my right elbow for a furiously repetitive task for a living and there is no one to replace me and I am self employed. our entire household income depending on what I do. People depend on me for my service to them. Several things throughout the day which include but are not limited to heavy lifting, if not don correctly, I can be injured for life. There was no way out of the rut. Pain pain pain. Everything I did caused more pain. After work when resting, the elbow was continuing to thump. Pangs, what felt like incessantly. I did try other things, and nothing would stop the pain. This did not at first stop the pain, but three times a day is what I did, religiously, and still do... rubbing it in to where I was feeling pain, til it was no longer lotion-y. After about 10 days, I started to notice not only the pains stopping, slowly but surely, but it was getting stronger. Something hit me, try it on my chest??? I searched reviews here via the amazon search option for "costochondritis", and had seen where someone mentioned it has helped them. In those areas ( about three, started feeling it about three years ago after a cold and heavy coughing), it worked for me rather quickly, kinda shocked me honestly. Needless to say as the elbow, it has been LIBERATING. After somewhere near three weeks or so, I still have about 40 percent of it left. Also need to note, the makers sent me an email guaranteeing a refund if it doesn't work... pretty cool! Having heard my reports of "I think it's WORKING!", my lady here, used it for some soreness around her hip, and carpal tunnel flareups, and said within days it had worked for HER. I have told friends about this as well, and continue to be pretty amazed that this stuff is working. Now I wish o say as well, I have employed, upon reading this from others on amazon reporting, bromelain I got at The Vitamin shoppe, on an off here and there, I use amino acid supplements, not on a non stop basis... I use every three days or so, an omega chewy thingy... and for about two weeks, wrapped the elbow with a ace bandage when sleeping, and have adjusted my sleeping patterns a small bit. I still feel a small bit of pain for the first half hour upon waking up... when moving though, I usually see that stop before going out to work, I use the penetrex, I use it every night before going to bed. Even typing THIS, I am feeling no real pain which is saying a huge amount. I will update this and if you comment on this post I, unlike many amazon posters, will reply when I see the notification email.. and if I can help you out, I will. Yes, I was skeptical, and a complete nonbeliever, and still am pretty amazed having discovered this stuff is for real. I WILL order this again.... I simply, after seeing what it's done for other things, cannot have a medicine cabinet without Penetrex in it... just added it to my spellcheck. UPDATE: November 2013= I am STILL pain free and stopped using it long ago. I am absolutely liberated to be out of pain now. Thank you penetrex, I never forget those that help me, and you have made my life better, taken away the pain. Aplus!!!!! UPDATE: (nearly)OCTOBER 2014= Still 100 percent pain free. Business is busier than ever, and I still feel like it never happened. I still tell people about this cream all the time, whenever I can. Also helped a wrist issue this past summer, needed to use it regularly for about 2 months, and modify my activity, yet, Penetrex still shows it's stuff to me, every time. And HUGE news, my costochondritis, after a long time of use, is now what appears to be gone. I am still using this cream on that area of recent pain nearly every night, but it's been three weeks with no pain spikes!

Truly and honestly a miracle in a jar. I developed peripheral neuropathy because a Dr put me on a "statin" drug, ie: Lipitor, and there are hundreds and they will ALL cause diabetes and peripheral neuropathy, your Dr. just won't tell you that. Instead do some research to lower your cholesterol without a statin. I have tried EVERYTHING possible to stop the pain, numbness, tightness, lack of movement in my feet and lower legs and absolutely nothing works! And then I come across this product Penetrex!!! It is STELLAR to say the least for all the above listed problems I have. After the first use, the numbness started to disappear, the pain subsided, I was able to move my toes and bend my ankles, I no longer had the feeling of something strangling my ankles as if there was a tight rubber band around them. All you need is a small amount, massage into your feet and around your toes, up past your ankles etc. and within minutes absolute RELIEF! It's amazing and unbelievable how wonderful this product works, and not just for me. I offered 2 of my neighbors suffering with the same issues as mine and they received the exact same results. The smell is slightly minty and very nice and calming without the strong smell of other muscle rubs which do nothing to help relieve my condition nor help with sore muscles. The cream is not greasy and after massaging a small amount, I wait 10 minutes at the most and this cream soaks in leaving your skin feeling soft and pain free. The relief lasts for most of the following day, and every night at my T.V. time, I apply Penetrex and again within a few minutes, my pain begins to subside and I receive complete and total relief from all my symptoms. I thought I was doomed with this horrid condition, however thankfully I came across this advertised by Amazon knowing that if it didn't work I'd just return it and get a refund. Well no need for that, I call this cream a miracle in a jar. I recommend this to anyone that has similar issues and I'm positive it will work wonders for anyone with sore muscles as well. I am so thankful I found this product, I'll definitely be ordering another larger jar of Penetrex when my jar needs to be refilled, and when that's gone, I'll reorder it again and again. I am positive that anyone with similar problems will have the same outcome. This is the very best product I've ever come across since I saw a commercial on T.V. by a law firm stating that anyone that had become diabetic after using any form of a statin. I immediately stopped taking my RX, and within 2 weeks I no longer was a pre-diabetic, and I lost 46 pounds without even trying. Unfortunately, I've been permanently damaged thanks to a Dr. who I assumed was helping me when instead he was slowly killing me with a drug I didn't need. I'm stuck with peripheral neuropathy, however I'm thrilled I've finally found a product that takes the symptoms and pain completely away. I honestly can't believe how wonderful Penetrex is, and neither will you until you place your order and give it a try. You will be extremely thankful you read this review because although you may have this condition, at least, and I mean at least there's Penetrex that will rid you of your pain and suffering and finally get a proper nights sleep because your legs and feet feel nearly normal again, painfree and without the charlie horse cramps that attack throughout the night suffering from this condition. A little dab of this cream on the backs of your legs while applying it to your numb feet and say goodbye to the horrible pain people like myself are forced to deal with for the rest of our lives. Thank you Penetrex, thank you. Please note: I was not offered any kind of benefit for writing this review, even though I would appreciate one; i wrote it because this miracle cream in a tub truly works...it truly works!

This works really well for your body. It helps with sore muscles and is good for massage.