Pepper patch, when used skillfully, can be a real godsend for those who suffer from chronic myofascial syndrome, sciatica, osteochondrosis or colds accompanied by a severe cough. The most common reason for using external warming patches lies not only in ARVI, but also in osteochondrosis, which is found in almost every person after 30 years. Doctors often argue about the insignificance of this diagnosis or its mythical nature, but, nevertheless, many real people suffer from back pain, which is localized in various parts of the spinal column.
To eliminate pain, external or systemic forms of painkillers are often used. As a rule, systemic forms are prescribed only for really severe pain, and external methods of combating pain are considered safe, which also include pepper patches. For this reason, many users are concerned about whether it is possible to glue a pepper patch directly to the spine? Why do you need certain concentrations of pepper in the pepper patch? How effective and safe is this procedure? Pharmacological properties and a detailed description will provide answers to exciting questions.
Why does your back hurt and how does the patch help?
Pepper patch warms up the muscles, relieves inflammation and pain in the spine.
Discomfort in the back can occur at any time and completely unexpectedly. There are quite a lot of reasons for this.
Using the drug in the form of a patch, it is impossible to eliminate the source of pain, since the strips act symptomatically.
Causes of back discomfort include diseases of the spine or soft tissues, or a history of trauma. You can injure your back during intense physical activity, during training, if a person is involved in sports professionally, and also accidentally, for example, in case of an unsuccessful fall on ice in winter.
If you neglect to follow medical recommendations and do not treat back pain, the muscle corset gradually weakens, which creates conditions for disruption of the musculoskeletal system. In addition, the discomfort can become chronic, causing further problems throughout life.
Pepper patches for back pain are classified as local irritants. They can eliminate discomfort and reduce the intensity of muscle spasms. The active components warm up the tissue of the skin on which the patch is glued, irritate the receptors, improve tissue trophism, thereby achieving a therapeutic effect.
How to use pepper patch correctly
To begin with, it is worth noting that the pepper patch is allowed to be applied to the area of the spinal column. Do not use the patch on damaged areas of the skin, with external diseases, infections and on mucous membranes. In other situations they can be used safely. The patch is easy to apply: just remove the protective film from it and place the desired piece of fabric evenly on the sore spot (if desired, the patch can be cut). The skin must first be cleaned of dirt; you can wipe it with ethyl alcohol or any disinfectant.
How long can you keep the patch on? It is optimal to apply it before bed and remove it in the morning. You can wear it in the lumbar area longer if it hurts a lot or it’s windy, but no more than two days. Then it is recommended to change it if local irritant reactions do not occur, but not earlier than every other day. It is advisable to apply topically after removal with a moisturizing cream. Do not apply pepper patch to moles. For children, you can only use a children's patch, since their skin is too delicate for the usual version. If there are no obvious improvements within a week of using the patch, it is recommended to consult a doctor to further clarify the therapy.
Indications and restrictions for use
The patch can be applied to any part of the spine where pain occurs.
Instructions for using the pepper patch for back and lower back pain provide information on where the strips can be glued:
- on the lower back, where there is pain like radiculopathy;
- to any area of the back with discomfort such as arthralgia and lumbago;
- to any part where muscle spasm is bothering, for example, caused by myositis.
You can wear a strip on the lower back and other areas of the back for osteochondrosis, spinal hernia, and other diseases that occur with pain.
It is prohibited to apply pepper plaster to the spine if there are contraindications:
- dermatological diseases and pathologies of the hematopoietic system;
- hypersensitivity to the components of the adhesive strip;
- oncological process in the body;
- elevated body temperature and hypertension.
In case of oncological diseases, it is impossible to warm up the tissues of the spine - this accelerates the growth of the tumor.
In case of oncological lesions of the back, it is not allowed to use pepper plasters due to the possible progression of the disease due to the irritating effect on the tissues. If a person is intolerant to the components of the strip, after sticking it, itching and redness of the skin will occur.
The strips can be applied to pregnant women, but only in the absence of contraindications and the threat of premature birth. Due to the fact that the active components act locally, the composition of the blood does not change. Therefore, during pregnancy, treatment with such drugs is safe for the fetus.
When breastfeeding, gluing the strips is allowed. The components do not pass into mother's milk.
The instructions indicate that the use of strips is only permissible from the age of 12.
Mechanism of action of the patch
There are many domestic and imported patches, but they all share a common operating principle: the sticky side is coated with a special substance containing a pepper mixture. Its main ingredient is the alkaloid capsaicin. In short, capsaicin, which is part of the pepper mixture, irritates and warms, causing blood flow to the muscles and subcutaneous tissue. Since it is safer to irritate thick and insensitive skin, this is why the pepper patch is used when a hernia is localized in the lumbar spine.
How can applying a patch help improve well-being or cope with a hernia, which is a complication of osteochondrosis?
Increased pain threshold
Capsaicin, contained in red hot pepper, by its chemical nature is an agonist of vanilloid receptors, which are located deep in the skin and primarily recognize pain. When interacting with capsaicin, these receptors are initially triggered, giving a signal for the release of biogenic amines and substances that dilate blood vessels. This leads to the development of the well-known symptoms - redness and burning.
But after continued application, these same skin receptors become less sensitive to repeated painful stimuli. Within an hour, the receptors need a different, more powerful pain stimulus to respond, since capsaicin significantly increases their pain threshold. This selective agonism towards pain receptors is reversible; after removing the pepper patch, their sensitivity is restored.
Elimination of myofascial-tonic pain syndrome
In addition to this effect, secondary, but very important, is plethora, or hyperemia in relation to the striated muscles of the back muscles, the deep longitudinal muscles of the spine. It is known that rapidly occurring swelling and inflammation of the nerve roots, muscles and ligaments play an important role in the formation of pain during protrusion and hernia.
The flow of blood from the deep structures of the spine, muscles and ligaments outward under the influence of the pepper patch helps reduce swelling and relieve pain pulsation in the depths. Since the muscles themselves are a source of secondary pain syndrome, being compacted and painful, the use of pepper patch allows you to stimulate muscle blood flow, including venous, and rid the muscles of accumulated metabolic products, including lactic acid.
The application of a pepper patch allows you to break the vicious circle that leads to the occurrence of myofascial pain syndrome. The muscles that are dense and painful at the paravertebral points, located near the area of protrusion and hernia, perceive segmental pain reception, and lactic acid begins to linger in them, because the muscles can respond to irritation in only one way - contraction.
This contraction then becomes constant and the muscles enter a state of chronic spasm. The accumulation of lactic acid as a product of muscle activity leads to additional irritation, and it becomes impossible to remove it, since capillary spasm has developed deep in the muscles. Capsaicin helps break this vicious cycle.
Thus, pepper patches have several mechanisms in action: reducing the sensitivity of pain receptors, irritating and distracting factors, warming, improving blood circulation and resolving persistent secondary muscle spasms, an inevitable companion to osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine.
The classic composition of the pepper patch is cayenne pepper extract - 8%, belladonna - 0.6%. Additional ingredients are rubber, petrolatum, anhydrous lanolin, which is obtained from the rinsing waters of sheep's wool, and a fabric base.
Belladonna, or belladonna, contains atropine, and the introduction of belladonna extract into a patch formulation causes an antagonistic effect on acetylcholine, which enhances muscle contraction. As a result, muscle tension and muscle tone are further reduced, and this is an alternative mechanism not associated with the elimination of excess lactic acid.
What are the indications for using pepper patch? When is it used?
Composition and release form
The patch contains red pepper extract.
All pain-relieving patches for the spine and back have the main active ingredient - red capsicum extract. Additional substances can be: belladonna extract, pine rosin, arnica infusion, belladonna extract, etc.
The preparations are produced in the form of fabric strips with or without perforation (from viscose yarn, calico, other fabric). A special mass is applied to the surface, which has a yellow-brown or brown color and a peculiar odor. On top there is a protective layer of film or paper.
There should be no lumps of mass, folds of fabric, or foreign inclusions. Otherwise, this indicates low quality of the product.
Pepper patches have different sizes: 4:10 (where 4 is the width, 10 is the length), 6:10, 10:18, 12:18.
How to stick and remove strips
Pepper plaster can be glued in the form of a solid sheet or strips.
There are no restrictions on the area where strips can be glued. They are allowed to be applied to the cervical, thoracic, lumbosacral regions if there are no contraindications.
There are two ways to use the patch to get rid of back pain:
- By applying a single sheet (it can also be bought at the pharmacy, like divided ready-made strips) on the painful area and leaving it until a burning and tingling sensation is felt.
- By applying strips of a certain size to biologically active points, which are worn continuously for 7 days.
If osteochondrosis or a hernia develops in the cervical spine, the patch is placed under the spinous process. To detect this area, you need to tilt your head forward, pressing your chin to your chest, and figuratively draw a straight line along the vertebrae. The part that sticks out the most will be the spinous process, and the strip needs to be glued under it.
For thoracic osteochondrosis, the patch is applied in the area of pain projection. If there is a disease in the lumbar segments, as well as severe pain, the strips are not removed for up to 4 days, then they take a break of several days and stick the patch on again.
To painlessly remove the strip from the skin, it is recommended to smear the area with vegetable or other oil and wait 5-10 minutes. This time will be enough for the tape to move away from the epidermis. The remaining glue is removed and a nourishing cream is applied to the skin.
While the heat remains in the skin, you need to wrap the area with a warm scarf or wrap yourself in a blanket. It is forbidden to take a bath until the warming effect disappears.
Ready-made drugs
Domestic brand of plasters - Doctor Peretz
On pharmacy shelves you can find a lot of pepper plasters that have an analgesic effect:
- Medrull;
- Dr. House;
- Ekoplast;
- Leosan pepper;
- Pepper Assistant;
- Doctor Peretz.
The price of most patches is affordable for every average person.
Other analgesic patches
In addition to pepper strips, which are used to relieve pain, there are other patches with a similar effect. One of these is with the inclusion of lidocaine, the effect of which is designed for 8-10 hours. Against the background of constant contact of the anesthetic with the skin, the substance is gradually absorbed into the pores, which creates a long-lasting therapeutic effect.
There are pain-relieving patches with the addition of diclofenac or methyl salicylate, which together help relieve swelling. The active components enter the general bloodstream in large quantities, so using them for a long time is not recommended.
In case of overdose, side reactions occur that affect the heart and blood vessels, the digestive system and the respiratory system. Allergic symptoms may occur on the skin in the form of a rash, itching syndrome, and tissue hyperemia.
The warming effect is provided by patches containing magnetic or iron powder. They help improve blood flow and suppress pain receptors, but have many contraindications.
Famous manufacturers
Currently, there is not such a large selection of pepper patches. One of the best is the Capsicum patch (Paul Hartmann, Germany), but it is not always available in domestic pharmacies.
But in almost every pharmacy in the Russian Federation you can buy pepper plasters produced by Novosibkhimpharm, with an area of 6 by 10 and 10 by 18 cm. It is the second option that is well suited for application to the lumbar region, for hernias of the lumbar spine.
You can also purchase pepper Silkoplast, which is produced in China by the Changzhou Nanfang Medical Apple company. In beauty salons you can buy Master Uni Farmline patch 6-10 cm kV, No. 5 per package, cost 40 rubles.
In conclusion, it must be emphasized once again that pepper applications are an excellent means of relieving pain and muscle spasms, but it does not have any therapeutic effect on a hernia defect. Therefore, the best way would be to use the pepper patch in short courses, within 3 to 7 days after the elimination of acute pain, as part of complex therapy, together with medications, physiotherapy and therapeutic exercises.