Actual research/studies on effectiveness of liniment?

[BroncoMo]

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on this one and can’t find any useful evidence.

Has anyone seen anything scholarly written regarding liniment having any actual benefit in horses? I guess a human study would work too.

To be clear, I’m not looking for anecdotal evidence; no “I like the smell of it”; no “well it helped my own back soreness”; no “it makes my hands tingly!”. Hypoxia and frostbite also makes your hands tingly, so…

Tingly-ness will send the sensitive skinned types through the roof. So no interest there. I’m curious about any actual research on the mechanism and evidence of increased cooling or circulation.

[Snowdenfarm]

I assume your rabbit hole included PubMed?

[BroncoMo]

I thought my PubMed access was expired since I graduated (I had university account access) but appears that is not the case. Nonetheless, even searching PubMed, I’m still not finding results. It could be the search terms I’m using, but I left it relatively broad so I don’t inadvertently filter out useful articles. It did, however, pull up a paper from 1885 on the use of liniment for ear aches

[JB]

PubMed still houses all kinds of full studies and abstracts for free. Sometimes I use those study titles to search more and might find them on JAVMA or sciencedirect or somewhere else.

I can’t currently find anything, but admittedly haven’t gone through a bigger variety of search terms. I do remember reading an article years ago, based on a study (that I can’t find) suggesting that by far the biggest impact is due to the rubbing, not the product.

However, that does depend on the ingredients. Arnica is more likely to absorb to some degree into the skin, and therefore have an effect, than, say, wintergreen

So you really have to search on the active ingredients I wouldn’t limit the search to horses though. If Wintergreen doesn’t penetrate human skin, it’s not going to get through a horse’s skin with hair on top of it, for example.

[Jealoushe]

This article:https://www.equinetherapeuticsupply.com/blog/effectiveness-and-uses-of-equine-veterinary-liniment/

Used these citations;

Citations

(1) R. Eccles (1994). “Menthol and Related Cooling Compounds”. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 46 (8): 618–630. doi:10.1111/j.2042-7158.1994.tb03871.x. PMID 7529306.

(2) Galeotti, N., Mannellia, L. D. C., Mazzantib, G., Bartolinia, A., Ghelardini, C.; Di Cesare Mannelli; Mazzanti; Bartolini; Ghelardini (2002). “Menthol: a natural analgesic compound”. Neuroscience Letters. 322 (3): 145–148. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02527-7. PMID 11897159.

(3) G. Haeseler; D. Maue; J. Grosskreutz; J. Bufler; B. Nentwig; S. Piepenbrock; R. Dengler; M. Leuwer. (2002). “Voltage-dependent block of neuronal and skeletal muscle sodium channels by thymol and menthol”. European Journal of Anaesthesiology. 19 (8): 571–579. doi:10.1017/S0265021502000923.

(4) Lasanen, R., Julkunen, P., Airaksinen, O. and Töyräs, J. (2016), Menthol concentration in topical cold gel does not have significant effect on skin cooling. Skin Res Technol, 22: 40–45. doi:10.1111/srt.12226

I think looking into menthol studies is a good start.

[Jealoushe]

https://equimed.com/news/health/new-research-brings-relief-to-horses-with-chronic-back-pain

[xQHDQ]

You can see the first page: Equine sports therapy: Back to the basics - ScienceDirect

Agree…nothing on Pubmed.

[equinelibrium]

Thanks for asking this, I’ve been wondering about it myself. Hopefully this isn’t too much of a change of subject, but does this include poultice as well?

[luvmyhackney]

If you search witch hazel, more studies show up. Pretty sure its an ingredient in the liniments I own.

[BroncoMo]

Good question. I haven’t been as interested considering I have seen first hand how effective poultice can be. To me it is easier to consider something effective when I can put it on a hot, puffy leg and see it tighten up over night versus legs left naked. Some would argue that it is the wrap that is actually doing the work, but I had one that would not leave his wraps on over night. I would put poultice on cold and as wet as I could with no wraps, and it was effective for him.

I understand the mechanism behind a topical that draws heat, but I do not understand how something applied topically can relieve soreness to the tissues underneath by penetrating the skin. Maybe there’s a way, I just question it.

I have a youngster who was practically a rescue case and therefore has a body full of ailments for his age. I’ve poured a lot in to getting him sound, but there are things that will need maintenance along the way. As well as my belief that we need to treat our horses as the athletes that they are. So I’m weighing whether or not to deal with liniment to help with his hocks or knees or back. Or if I should just stick to good old fashioned ice; which is what I’ll likely do.

But considering the large community here, I figured it would be worth an ask.

[BroncoMo]

That’s what I am gathering, that I need to research each active ingredient.

[JB]

@BroncoMo

I understand the mechanism behind a topical that draws heat, but I do not understand how something applied topically can relieve soreness to the tissues underneath by penetrating the skin. Maybe there’s a way, I just question it.

It definitely depends on the ingredient. Arnica is known to be able to penetrate to some degree, which is why Sore No More can be effective, depending on where you put it

But then consider the physical aspect of horse muscles vs human. A given ingredient might penetrate deeply enough in the context of, say a human hamstring, but only touch the surface of a horse’s hamstring (or glute, or back, etc).

IMHO, when it comes to horses, applying things to legs are best done to pull heat out, since we know heat contributes to tissue damage. Poultices can be great for that. Add in some arnica to that poultice, and you can benefit internal structures both ways.

Liniments on the body serve to cool things fast, depending on the ingredients. Rubbing alcohol, menthol, things like evaporate pretty quickly, which helps cool the body faster, but really don’t benefit the underlying muscles beyond that.

[PaddockWood]

I’m a big fan of Sore No More for my horses because of my personal experience with arnica cream. I get real relief from stiffness, soreness and by golly if I bang myself hard and soon thereafter apply arnica cream on the spot I’m amazed to not even bruise.

For what that is worth.

[Scribbler]

The methyl salicylate in McTarnaham blue lotion is a topical analgesic so it does take away pain.

[BroncoMo]

Thank you. A quick search yielded plenty of research that methyl salicylate is easily absorbed by the skin. That has been my main question regarding liniments; are they truly absorbed through the skin and can easily reach joints/muscles?

Now a bigger question: is it legal for competition use? It is on FEI’s controlled substance list. But USEF’s guidelines aren’t really clear on it.