captain_spalding said:

If any of our aging Forum are suffering with arthritis pains, i think that i can recommend ‘Zostrix’ topical analgesic cream.

It’s an over-the-counter product at your chemist, containing 0.025% w/w (by weight) of capsaicin.

Almost immediately after the first application, my knees felt better. Two more applications followed, and i was getting around the house yesterday like i’d never heard of ‘osteoarthritis’. And, a few days ago, i had to borrow Mrs S’s walking stick.

Only now are a few twinges re-appearing, suggesting new application is needed.

No serious side effects for me. On two of th e three occasions, application was followed by a mild ‘burning’ sensation which persisted for 20 mins or so, but it was no worse than what you get from the old ‘Deep Heat’ rub.

Roughie mentioned one or two similar products yesterday in these pages, so you should be able to find something in your local pill-pusher’s.

The Zostrix is good but if you’ve used Percutane the Zostrix seems like lemonade to beer. The percutane has 12mg/g of capsaicin and doesn’t burn on application. The pain goes away for a good while but they do warn that exposure to sunlight or hot showers may brighten your day a bit. The best part is the length of tiime it works for.