Last night my dd (hs senior) pitched the worst two games I've seen her throw in a long time(speed with no control). She had a sore arm after pitching 3 full games last Saturday and had been putting ice on her shoulder every night since. Last night after the games she said she felt she had no control over her arm muscles. She also said she had sprayed her arm with Icy Hot before each game, so that got me wondering if that could have contributed to the muscle problem.
Anyone else experience this? I googled and found this article it seems to confirm that it might be a problem
Can Icy Hot© Have Adverse Effects on Muscle Performance?
Caroline Liddy
Introduction
Muscle pain is a frequent result of physical exertion and is a common complaint among competitive athletes. Many athletes have a routine of applying Icy Hot©, or other topical analgesics, before competition to reduce muscle pain. This routine eventually becomes a habit and athletes begin applying the ointment even when they are not experiencing muscle pain. Athletes have become accustomed to putting the ointment on and feel that their performance will be hindered if they go without it. While Icy Hot© has been shown to reduce muscle pain and inflammation when there is a problem, extensive research has not been done on how Icy Hot© affects normal functioning muscles. Thus, the question of this experiment was to determine how Icy Hot© affects muscle potentials and if in turn, this can aversively affect muscle performance if no pain is being experienced to require the application.
Background
Icy Hot © vanishing scent gel is one of the leading topical analgesic used to reduce pain associated with muscle strains, stresses, and other pains. The active ingredient is Icy Hot© is menthol at 2.5% (“Drug Facts: Icy,”2010). Menthol activates the sensory neurons detecting cold temperature (Michaud, 2010).
When someone is in pain from sore muscles he or she is unable to perform at peak performance. Icy Hot© can be beneficial in this situation because Icy Hot © quickly sends temperature signals to the brain which mask the pain signals being sent. However, if no pain is being sensed by the muscles and Icy Hot© is applied there are no pain signals to be masked. Therefore, the effect of sending temperature signals to the brain in the absence of muscle pain may be deleterious if it is overloading the sensory pathways of the brain.
A previous study examined the effects of menthol, the active ingredient in Icy Hot©, on block voltage-gated sodium channels. Voltage-gated sodium channels are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials in nerve and muscle cells. Action potentials are responsible for sending signals throughout the body and helping to initiate muscle contraction. Without proper activation of these channels, muscle contraction, and therefore movement, can be inhibited. The researchers found that menthol blocks these important channels and causes a local anesthetic-like effect in the region exposed to menthol (Haeseler et al., 2002). If a muscle is “frozen” because the sodium channels are blocked than it would be reasonable to think that this muscle would not be able to perform maximally.
In another study, topical menthol reduced ipsilateral and contralateral arterial blood flow. A reduction in arterial blood flow means that there is less blood being delivered to the body. In this particular study, the region of the muscles that had Icy Hot© applied to them experienced a reduction in blood flow (Topp, Winchester, Schilero, & Jacks, 2011). Blood delivers oxygen to muscles, and during strenuous activity, additional blood is delivered to active muscles due to the increased need of oxygen in order to continue to continue to have energy to function at an optimal level. If topical menthol reduces the blood flow to an area of muscle, then there is less oxygen being delivered to that muscle, causing the muscle to be unable to perform as well with the lack of adequate oxygenation.
With a blockage of sodium channels preventing action potentials from being propagated and a decrease in blood flow to the muscle, it is amazing that muscles are even able to operate under conditions where Icy Hot© has been applied. Therefore, this study examined how muscle potentials and the activation of muscle fibers needed to produce force, are affected by the application of Icy Hot©.
Anyone else experience this? I googled and found this article it seems to confirm that it might be a problem
Can Icy Hot© Have Adverse Effects on Muscle Performance?
Caroline Liddy
Introduction
Muscle pain is a frequent result of physical exertion and is a common complaint among competitive athletes. Many athletes have a routine of applying Icy Hot©, or other topical analgesics, before competition to reduce muscle pain. This routine eventually becomes a habit and athletes begin applying the ointment even when they are not experiencing muscle pain. Athletes have become accustomed to putting the ointment on and feel that their performance will be hindered if they go without it. While Icy Hot© has been shown to reduce muscle pain and inflammation when there is a problem, extensive research has not been done on how Icy Hot© affects normal functioning muscles. Thus, the question of this experiment was to determine how Icy Hot© affects muscle potentials and if in turn, this can aversively affect muscle performance if no pain is being experienced to require the application.
Background
Icy Hot © vanishing scent gel is one of the leading topical analgesic used to reduce pain associated with muscle strains, stresses, and other pains. The active ingredient is Icy Hot© is menthol at 2.5% (“Drug Facts: Icy,”2010). Menthol activates the sensory neurons detecting cold temperature (Michaud, 2010).
When someone is in pain from sore muscles he or she is unable to perform at peak performance. Icy Hot© can be beneficial in this situation because Icy Hot © quickly sends temperature signals to the brain which mask the pain signals being sent. However, if no pain is being sensed by the muscles and Icy Hot© is applied there are no pain signals to be masked. Therefore, the effect of sending temperature signals to the brain in the absence of muscle pain may be deleterious if it is overloading the sensory pathways of the brain.
A previous study examined the effects of menthol, the active ingredient in Icy Hot©, on block voltage-gated sodium channels. Voltage-gated sodium channels are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials in nerve and muscle cells. Action potentials are responsible for sending signals throughout the body and helping to initiate muscle contraction. Without proper activation of these channels, muscle contraction, and therefore movement, can be inhibited. The researchers found that menthol blocks these important channels and causes a local anesthetic-like effect in the region exposed to menthol (Haeseler et al., 2002). If a muscle is “frozen” because the sodium channels are blocked than it would be reasonable to think that this muscle would not be able to perform maximally.
In another study, topical menthol reduced ipsilateral and contralateral arterial blood flow. A reduction in arterial blood flow means that there is less blood being delivered to the body. In this particular study, the region of the muscles that had Icy Hot© applied to them experienced a reduction in blood flow (Topp, Winchester, Schilero, & Jacks, 2011). Blood delivers oxygen to muscles, and during strenuous activity, additional blood is delivered to active muscles due to the increased need of oxygen in order to continue to continue to have energy to function at an optimal level. If topical menthol reduces the blood flow to an area of muscle, then there is less oxygen being delivered to that muscle, causing the muscle to be unable to perform as well with the lack of adequate oxygenation.
With a blockage of sodium channels preventing action potentials from being propagated and a decrease in blood flow to the muscle, it is amazing that muscles are even able to operate under conditions where Icy Hot© has been applied. Therefore, this study examined how muscle potentials and the activation of muscle fibers needed to produce force, are affected by the application of Icy Hot©.
