Penetrex Joint & Muscle Therapy - Soothing Comfort for Back, Neck, Hands, Feet - Premium Whole Body Rub with Arnica, Vitamin B6 MSM & Boswellia - 2oz 3-Pack

I have suffered from RSIs for the past 5 years, and have been using Penetrex regularly for the past 2 years as part of my attempts to treat them. As anyone with RSIs know, these injuries are complex and poorly understood - it marks the beginning of an ongoing journey. In addition to my review of Penetrex, I will share some of my journey - maybe it will help someone else. I'll get right to the point: Does Penetrex have a positive effect, and is that effect worth the money? In my opinion, yes! However, it is no magic bullet. Penetrex is just one of many factors which can affect an injury, and while I have found it decently potent, it will not single-handidly right all wrongs in the RSI universe. If the only change you make in life is to start using Penetrex, it is unfair to poorly rate it if trouble still remains. I think perhaps the abundance of rave reviews could set some people up for disappointment; the rave reviews are completely deserved in my opinion, just remember the context of the person writing it. There are too many unpredictable factors to ensure that Penetrex will be a good fit for absolutely every person. But I would say that your odds are good, and for just $20, it is among the cheapest experiments in treatment you'll ever make. To those who complain about a lack of pain relief from Penetrex - I actually think the focus on pain relief is somewhat misplaced. I have always thought of Penetrex as a healing aid, and in that aspect I am very satisfied with its effectiveness. I have noticed some immediate relief upon application, but for me the difference has been in long-term recovery. You really do need to faithfully use it as directed to reap the maximum benefits. I don't need so much pain relief these days, as significantly less pain is being generated to begin with - something I am very grateful for. I don't know how exactly it works, but I'm aware that it does. For people with allergies and sensitive skin, I have read of some folks reacting negatively to this cream. Unfortunately, nothing works for everyone. For myself, I have generally troublesome allergies and struggle with psoriasis and eczema. I developed contact dermatitis from using wrist braces, and can't wear them anymore. But for all the grief my skin gives me, Penetrex has only had positive effects on me. When in doubt, do a patch test. I give this product 5 stars because, especially when you consider the cost of other treatments (and I'm not just talking about money), Penetrex delivers great bang for the buck. My experience with it leads me to believe that it is an inherently effective product backed by a reputable company. As I only seem to age in one direction - older - I anticipate being a customer of theirs for quite some time. Still struggling with RSIs though? Penetrex is a wonderful start, but most of us probably need more on top of this. Here's a distilled list of what I have found most effective over my years of struggle. It is these things which mean I am now healing over time instead of getting worse and worse. Maybe some of these suggestions will help you. I hope so! This is not medical advice, so please talk to your doctor before doing anything crazy. Best wishes. Alcohol - I could not believe the profound impact that even infrequent drinking had on my RSIs. It took me a long time to realize the correlation even existed. I've since quit drinking completely, and have improved significantly off this change alone. The takeaway - the occasional treat may still be punishing you chronically when it comes to what you eat/drink. Be mindful of what you put in your body! Trigger point therapy - overuse of muscles can cause them to permanently tense up, shortening the muscles and leading to irritation of the ligaments. Pressure is how you get the muscle fibers to release. I've gotten profound relief from this. There are some excellent products on amazon for self-massaging pressure points. It's been a real game changer for me. Exercising underused muscles - Releasing the tense overused muscles is just one side of the coin for me. I also need to exercise opposing muscle groups. For me, the best tool has been the flextend glove, which is available through their website. I was hesitant to buy it because it's expensive and their website is very ad jargony, but it gets to a point and you're willing to risk a big chunk of change just on the chance it helps. Well if part of your issue truly is muscle balance, the flextend helps a LOT. But like any exercise, you can hurt yourself using it. You don't need to go wild with the thing to get results! Workouts will sometimes cause me some irritation in the short term (cue Penetrex), but over the long term it has been very good for me. Frequent breaks from irritating activities: You really, really need to step away from your work frequently throughout the day. I use the pomodoro technique - I work for 25 minutes, then break for 5 (get up, move around, stretch). Every 2 hours, it's a 20 minute break. I use the handy program Focus Booster, which is free, to keep track of my time. This is also a documented technique for improving productivity, so if you have a cool boss, you might be able to sell them on introducing this at your workplace! Perfect ergonomics: If prices were bothering you before, you are really going to cry when it comes to this. As an example, I just spent over $600 on a new chair. That's the low end of the price spectrum you need to be looking in, if you work sitting down. And then there's the effort aspect - it takes time to habitually develop awareness of posture. But there's just no way around it - the best way to heal RSIs is to minimize the damage being done to begin with. Mechanical keyboard: If you do lots of typing, having a mechanical keyboard in a standard layout is superior to having a non-mechanical keyboard in an "ergonomic" layout. It's very difficult to find an "ergonomic" mechanical keyboard and they are very expensive. I am not sure if it's really worth it to go there. I just went with a standard layout and am very happy with it. The Cherry Red switches are the best for RSI sufferers, and you can additionally install red (2mm) or blue (4mm) rubber O rings on the underside of keys to reduce travel distance. Many suppliers will pre-install these for you, though Amazon sells key cap removal tools and the O rings for cheap, if you want to go DIY. I also recommend using a ten-keyless keyboard design unless you really use that numpad - and even then, you might consider a stand-alone numpad. The reduced travel distance between the keyboard and mouse adds up. Braces: While I used to swear by my wrist braces, I have grown to develop mixed feelings about them in the long run. I personally think they are best used as a short-term aid. They're best for when you're sleeping and during the most aggravating activities of the day, but be sure to give yourself significant "free time" if at all possible. If you're working with braces on, I think it's good to view them as a posture training tool more than anything else. Ideally, you should strive to reach a point where you can maintain good position without relying on the brace to enforce it. I hope some of this information proved useful to my fellow RSI sufferers! Good luck!!

I honestly can't believe how well this works! I did a workout where I was sore for 5 straight days. The next week, I did the SAME workout, put on this cream before bed, and woke up...not sore. I didn't trust it, because it seemed like magic, but after going through a whole bottle of this stuff, I'm blown away! SECRET TIP: If you put it on the night you worked out, before bed, and don't wait until you're ALREADY sore? I find it works even better. Maybe 50% better, in that case? It's still helpful on already sore muscles, but not as dramatic. Why I like this: -I have tried Sore No More, Icy Hot, and at least 3 kinds of "hippie balms" with natural ingredients and all that, and most of them burned, felt cold, and then...did nothing. THIS ONE actually moves the needle! -It doesn't burn. So you don't have to worry about accidentally getting it anywhere, um, sensitive. -It doesn't make you smell like a tube of toothpaste. (No noticeable odor at all). -It's thinner, when you get the roll on applicator, so it's not as thick and sticky to put on. You still need to wait for it to dry for a second before putting fabric on top, but it's way, way faster than the creams and ointments and doesn't get all over everything. -My husband finds this much more effective for putting on hairy legs, whereas creams and ointments just get all gummed up in the hair and it's gross. I LOVE this stuff and I've already gone through a whole tube. Buying a spare for my big horseback riding trip so I can share with friends!

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."

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 was disappointing to me. It had good ingredients I thought. It worked somewhat on the neuropathy in my feet. Not good but not bad. However. My feet swelled up after 8 hours. I had to discontinue use after that. It sure softened my hands.

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!

I didn't believe this would work on my legs which hurt all the time. However, it does work. It's almost a miracle how it eases the pain. I don't know if it would work for everyone but it is certainly worth a try. I apply it twice a day and the pain is mostly gone. Also it has a very light pleasant fragrance.

I love it, may not work for everyone because is not one jar fits all but as for me after I come home from work, standing all day and running like a headless chicken I rub it on my feet, my knees and even my shoulder that was hurting me for a few months is not hurting anymore, since it helps with inflation it works for me. I had to do Cortisone injections last year 2025 for plantar fasciitis as I started working on a Restaurant for the firts time in my life and it hasn't been fun, that been written, this lotion is keeping me pain free, I truly preferred to do this than more injections. I bought a 2oz jar before and just order an 8oz pump, planing to give some away to a friend that is a performer in Vegas and dancing is been taking a toll in her knees, I'm so hopeful it will help her as well. So for you outhere if your problem is mild you might want to give it a try but if you have some serious issues don't expect a miracle, I mention this because of some reviews I read.