Sunday Times Newspaper, London, England.
After 12 years I have now come off HRT. I have started to notice my hands changing shape and stiffening. Can you suggest something to help prevent this?
Mrs V. Cohen, Harrogate, England
I am going to recommend you try a very unusual product, which has produced such an impressive body of empirical evidence - i.e. practitioners and patients who all swear it works - that it is now being officially recommended as a natural painkiller by the Canadian Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) Society. RSD is the name given to a type of nerve pain in which the pain is accompanies by changes to the surrounding blood flow and tissue.
I say unusual because this remedy was first developed as an udder cream to treat mastitis in dairy cows. Do not ask me who had the bright idea of trying it out on humans but someone made the leap and you can now try it too.
The cream, which is called Dynamint, is now also being used by sports men and women as a muscle balm for warming up and cooling down stretched muscles. It contains soothing peppermint, calendula, tea-tree and eucalyptus oils.
© susan clark 2008
Dynamint Muscle Balm
Vancouver BC
Reviewed by Anne Garber
This is a product I encountered at the Heart Health & Wellness Expo at our most recent adidas Vancouver International Marathon. It provides, what the manufacturer claims is a "cool-warm sensation, high penetration, rapid action -- quick 'kick-in' -- and these claims seem well substantiated in actual use.
I had a mild "tennis-elbow"-type problem, and I have to say that it seemed to loosen up the knotted muscle within about 10 minutes of the time of application. Though this is really only a topical balm, it did, indeed, show rapid penetration, without leaving a greasy residue.
I brought a sample to my folks in Toronto, and my mother applied it to what we later learned was a sprained ankle, and it proved so effective in soothing the discomfort and easing the swelling, that both she -- and her doctor -- wanted to know where it could be purchased. Sorry: Online only !!!
Ingredients include: essential oils of calendula, peppermint, teatree and eucalyptus blended in a gentle aqueous base, made using the glacier-fresh waters from the Cascade Mountains in British Columbia.
The package promises: Perfect for deep tissue, remedial sports massage, or just when you need soothing and relaxing warmth. Yes, yes, and yes.
