I bought some DMSO from Jacobs Labs, 70%, to see if it would help out on the ITB flare up. I rubbed a bunch of it on the outside of the knee and right on up the band to the hip. Washed my hands, went out for a run.
I couldn’t really tell it eliminated inflammation. After about five or six miles, I could feel the band tugging a bit on the knee.
Got back home okay.
It feels like furniture polish: like Old English furniture polish. I never got a garlic taste in my mouth either, even after I put some more on after the run, and I put a lot on. Its got a feel to it, which I think would be good for a massage. Its very oily, like furniture polish. I detect no odor, either in the mouth or on the body.
Wow, flashback from the college football days. Hadn’t heard about DMSO in a long, long time…and it wasn’t a garlicky taste, it was more of a fishy-weird kind of thing. I can’t even remember what I used it for, but it seemed to work…but, then again, it was 20-some years ago.
Bizarre - DMSO is a pretty common solvent in my lab. I’ve never thought about rubbing it on myself… I’m pretty sure it won’t have any significant anti-inflammatory properties.
" Bizarre - DMSO is a pretty common solvent in my lab. I’ve never thought about rubbing it on myself… I’m pretty sure it won’t have any significant anti-inflammatory properties. "
LOL, same here! I mix up drug dose solutions in it sometimes, it’s a great solvent. Yeah, don’t think I’ll be rubbing that on my body anytime soon…
It really is supposed to work as an anti-inflammatory by flushing out the lactate acid and free radicals which damage the muscles.
Worked for Salazar and many other runners, including Olympic Runners, who soak their legs in it after long runs. Not kidding. I can’t tell it does anything, though.
I heard it can be dangerous because it’s a solvent that can introduce substances into your body. If the solvent goes into your tissues, it can carry contaminants as well.
Hey Booth … often DMSO is used to transport something. For example, some crush up aspirin and mix it into a paste with the DMSO and then rub it on the affected area, then wrap it with clean ace wrap or saran wrap. I have been told stories of horse trainers doing this with their animals … maybe the reason it’s found at farm supply stores? Wish i could say i was well educated on the subject but …
What I remember about how it was suppose to work is something like this…
… DMSO acts like a free-radical scavenger by increasing the blood stream to the area which is inflamed and/or helping transfering the “lactic acid buildups” into the blood stream so that the body a eliminated it easier.
Don’t know the truth of this… nor, seen any research. I used it for a while way back when… and, don’t even remeber if it worked or not… undoubtedly it didn’t make much of an impact or I’d remember that…
BTW, DMSO is suppose to work over a long period of time… not with one application.
What you need to do is put some cocaine in it as it will go right into the bloodstream and numb that knee. That was a fear in the Tour last year that someone would throw some in a cup on the back of a high profile American rider and test positive or throw it on all his team and have a systems doping problem. Hmmm. We still use it for on label for some interstital cystitis ladies. Kind of a Voodoo medicine, but whatever works. We don’t use the cocaine part anymore but the old timer MD’s said they did.
Make it the last try. As has been pointed out DMSO is used in pharma research to dose drugs into animals. Basically DMSO can take whatever is dissolved in it and pass it through your skin. Your skin is there for a reason, it keeps pathogens out. You are bypassing this primary defense for no good purpose. With nothing advantageous dissolved in the DMSO (asprin or cocaine as mentioned) the best outcome is no effect, the worst is you transport bacterial, or other, toxins across the skin barrier and make yourself sick.
Years ago my ex used DMSO for some problem or another - he’s into weight lifting. What I remember most about it, other than it didn’t seem to help, is that it made his breath AWFUL - a sickeningly sweet, awful odor. It would gross me out completely.
I recently tried it as well for some hamstring tendonitis…but I believe the stuff I used was 99% pure. It did give me a wierd taste in my mouth and my wife noticed after a day or two that I smelled like spaghetti. As for it’s effects on the tendonitis, it definitely numbed the pain for a few hours which made working out much more bearable. However, it didn’t get rid of the problem permanently…and I tried using it in conjunction with anti inflammatory medicine. Basically it worked exactly as the information I read said it would…it didn’t get rid of the pain permanently, but it allowed me to keep working out. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. It also burned quite a bit when i put it on. “burned” might be too strong a word, but it was markedly worse than any sports creme I’ve used.
As reported on here several times…ITB is a tendon and can’t be stretch…You actually need to stretch the muscles it’s attached too…
In regards to DMSO
Good Advice: DMSO
Don’t buy DMSO on your own: Ask your doctor to find a medical-grade source. Almost all DMSO available to the public is industrial grade - including most veterinary DMSO and products sold in health food stores and on the Internet - and may not be safe for medical use. Do not try DMSO without a doctor’s help. It’s a powerful transdermal agent, which means it can carry anything that touches it through your skin and into your body. If you have a reaction, stop using the product and see your doctor. Some people may have an allergic reaction, skin irritation or itching from DMSO applied externally. Be aware DMSO has been known to cause bad breath or a bad taste in the mouth (like garlic or oysters) among those who use it, whether it’s taken orally or applied to the skin.
While DMSO will solubilize relatively small MW compounds and assist them in entry across the skin, it won’t open up lesions large enough to allow a bacterium passage. If that were the case there’d be red fluid called blood all over the area you applied the DMSO.
I agree that one would like the DMSO to be as pure as possible so that you aren’t applying toxins, but I wouldn’t worry so much about pathogens. If you are, clean the area with some alcohol first.
Oh, 70% DMSO should do a good job of killing bacteria rather rapidly, once they come in contact with it.
While DMSO will solubilize relatively small MW compounds and assist them in entry across the skin, it won’t open up lesions large enough to allow a bacterium passage. If that were the case there’d be red fluid called blood all over the area you applied the DMSO.
If you’ll note I said bacterial toxins, not bacteria.
From my horse training days…DMSO is a wood by-product created in paper mills that was first used as a cleaning solvent. In the 70’s it wasn’t used to transport drugs as to create heat in the tendon and increase blood flow. You had to be careful not to put too much on leg wraps or wrap too tight or you’d burn the leg. If you didn’t taste it in your mouth then whatever you bought/used was so diluted as to not really get the effect you’d like. The taste is unavoidable if you’re using veterinary grade. Iwas under the impression that DMSO is illegal to dispense for human medical use and that even vet supplies don’t sell it antmore. I was talking with my PT about it last week. She was under the impression it was shown to have a detrimental effect on Kidneys (which on the surface makes sense)
There sure a lot of people clicking on this, a lot of wounded beasts out here, I see, looking for that miracle cure for ITBS, that the stretches, and exercises and foam roller just can’t solve. Yes, we are tired of doing those three things and seek a balm or lotion to cure ITBS. And please, no “change your shoes posts,” or “change your running form posts.”
I am convinced that ITBS is a God, the great “Illius Tibius,” a mysterious, being, upon whom he just chooses his misery, that, no matter what you do, you can’t defy or fix his punishment, for his punishment is just and severe.
I’ll be your damned test animal, people.
Next up, Accunpuncture.
After that, I’m cutting both bands.
But right now I can’t tell it does a damned thing. And I bought the best stuff you can buy from the people who invented it, Jacobs Labs. And number two, no garlic breath and no odor, that I can tell, but maybe it can’t make its way through the normal odor of dark death and decomposure, already inherent in the system.
I never tried dmso for ITBS…and I struggled with that for well over a year. But, I did try accupuncture (as well as many other things) for itbs. It did some wonderful things, but unfortunately it did nothing for the itbs for me. The one thing I tried that worked quickly for itbs was active release therapy. I think I went to 5 or 6 sessions and was pretty much good to go.
I just wasted 2 months (and a lot of $) at physical therapy for “hamstring tendonitis”…what a complete waste of time. The only thing they did for me there that might have helped was ultrasound…and that did nothing…which is shocking since it has never worked for any other tendonitis I’ve had either. The stengthening exercises would be pitifully easy for any athlete, and I don’t need a physical therapist to learn how to stretch. I don’t know why I bothered. I’m going back to my active release therapist wednesday. Hopefully it works as well as it did for my ITB problems.