Out of curiosity, I recently did a study regarding the top active ingredients used by topical analgesic, over the counter products targeting arthritis pain relief and other muscle and joint pains. Patch products were not analyzed. In the cases where a product contained more than one active ingredient, only the highest percentage active ingredient was used.
As a source for products, the bestselling products from the online stores of CVS, Walgreens and drugstore.com were used. The top one hundred and twenty products with a listed active ingredient were used for the study. Homeopathic products were not included because their ingredients are typically not covered by the FDA topical analgesic monograph.
Menthol was was found to be the leading active ingredient with 49.17%. The others are as follows: Methyl Salicylate 21.67%, Capsaicin 10.00%, Trolamine Salicylate 7.50%, Camphor 6.67%, Histamine Dihydrochloride 1.67%, Turpentine Oil 1.67%, Lidocaine 0.83%, and Hydrocortisone 0.83%.
The next time you are shopping for an OTC arthritis pain product, you will likely see one or more of these ingredients.