Muscle pain after work or the gym: hot rub or cooling balm?

There are two kinds of rub in every pharmacy: the cooling menthol kind and the warming deep-heat kind. People pick by habit or by smell. The right way to pick is by the clock.

The rule: cold today, heat tomorrow

• Something that happened in the last day or two, a pulled muscle, a knock, a twisted ankle: cooling. The area is inflamed and warmth makes it swell more. Menthol cools and takes the edge off.
• Stiffness and ache that is a day or more old, or that comes from work and repetition rather than an injury: warming. Heat brings blood to the muscle, loosens it and eases the ache.

The cooling balm

MARK Balm is menthol and camphor in wax. Rub a small amount into the sore spot; the cooling arrives in a minute and the muscle relaxes under it. Good for a neck stiff from a screen, shoulders after carrying, and the first day after a strain.

The warming rub

MARK Iodex is methyl salicylate, menthol and camphor in a wax base. A thin layer massaged for two minutes gives a steady warmth for an hour. Good for legs after a run, a back that lifted too much yesterday, knees after stairs, and the general ache of a physical job.

Three times a day at most. Never under a tight bandage, never with a heating pad, never on broken skin, and wash your hands afterwards.

A routine that works for a physical job

• After the shift: a warm shower, then Iodex on the parts that ache.
• Before bed: five minutes of stretching. Hamstrings, calves, the chest against a doorframe.
• On a day off: a twenty-minute walk. Rest is good; complete stillness makes muscles stiffer.

For the gym

Soreness the day after a hard session is normal and needs movement, water and warmth, not treatment. A rub in the evening and a light walk the next morning shorten it. A sharp pain during a lift, that stays, is an injury: cold for two days, then warmth, and no lifting on it until it is gone.

Both rubs together are the Winter Pain Kit, Rs 399, cash on delivery anywhere in Pakistan.