Biofreeze for Back Pain in Nashville, TN

There’s a type of treatment called Biofreeze that your Nashville chiropractor, Dr. Sweeney uses that you should know about.  It’s a natural treatment for pain, including low back pain.

Imagine how good you would feel if you could put a topical ointment (available from your Nashville chiropractor) on your back when it hurts. This is exactly what is possible when you use Biofreeze. It smells good because it contains menthol, the active ingredient in peppermint. Menthol cools the body and acts as if you had put an ice pack on your low back.

There are two specific pain-relieving mechanisms of Biofreeze that Nashville chiropractor Dr. Sweeney will explain to you:

1. Special receptors in the skin bring the perception of pain to the spinal cord. Once in the spinal cord, the pain signal is then sent to the brain; this is when you feel pain. The types of fibers that transmit the pain are C fibers and A delta fibers. When Biofreeze is applied to the skin, it sends another sensation – coldness up the A delta fiber pathway. This ends up inhibiting the transmission of pain via the fibers onto the brain.
2. Menthol in Biofreeze also binds to temperature sensitive receptors that perceive cold sensations. When the menthol is perceived by the receptors, calcium ions are released. The calcium ions modulate pain signals through the body’s opioid system. Ice works in a similar way.

One of the other reasons why your Nashville chiropractor uses Biofreeze is that Biofreeze acts immediately. This is because it is easily absorbed into the skin.You can ask Dr. Sweeney to explain to you about the study on Biofreeze in those with low back pain. Thirty-six adults with back pain were recruited; 18 used Biofreeze and 18 were in the control group. Those receiving Biofreeze were instructed to apply it three times daily; once in the morning and twice during the remainder of the day. Since it is a topical ointment, all they had to do was apply it on the back where they felt pain. The study participants were followed for four weeks. Each week results were measured, those who used Biofreeze had a significant reduction in their pain levels.

Who wants to suffer from back pain when you can head on down to your Nashville chiropractor’s office and stop the pain immediately?

Reference:

Zhang, J., Enix, D., Snyder, B., Giggey, K., and Tepe, R. Effects of Biofreeze and chiropractic adjustments on acute low back pain: a pilot study. J Chiropr Med 2008 Jun; 7 (2): 59—65. Doi: 10.1016/j.jcme.2008.02.004