[Baldy]

FWIW I got a bottle a while back and found my finger niggles went away when I massaged them regularly.

Before I continue - I haven't bothered doing any research on the efficacy of any of the ingredients,
so all of my comments are based on personal experience and conjecture,
Thus far all I can say is that my fingers sure felt relaxed and healthy after I used it.
Not to mention smelled nice - which, as someone said, probably doesn't improve its effectiveness... but it is still true.

Dr. T was telling me today that ibuprofen has been shown to reduce tendon healing efficiency in rats

"However, in a study that examined the effect of celecoxib on rat ligament transaction, animals treated with this coxib for the initial 6 days after injury had weaker ligaments than those given placebo when tested 14 days after the initial injury

-
21. Elder CL, Dahners LE, Weinhold PS. A cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor impairs ligament healing in the rat. Am J Sports Med. 2001;29:801-805.
22. Ferry ST, Dahners LE, Afshari HM, Weinhold PS. The effects of common anti-inflammatory drugs on the healing rat patellar tendon. Am J Sports Med. 2007;35:1326-1333.


So maybe Crimp oil is actually a good alternative.

I havent been using it for a few weeks now - (because we all know how easy it is to forgo prevention when there is nothing bad happening) and I just got an A2 tweak.
I have the bottle of crimp oil at work so I will use it every day at lunchtime and see what happens.
I will not use Ibuprofen orally or as a gel (after a quick search, apparently ingesting too much can hurt your liver...who knew? )

I will report back.
and then we can form a judgement based on my extensive data sampling. 

[Paul B]

I will not use Ibuprofen orally or as a gel (after a quick search, apparently ingesting too much can hurt your liver...who knew? )

Don't look-up the side effects of Vitamin C whatever you do...

[Nigel]

FWIW I got a bottle a while back and found my finger niggles went away when I massaged them regularly.

That is exactly what you would expect from massaging your fingers regularly. I'm not jibing this product in any way (yet!), because like yourself I have no idea about the science. However I think the procedure for healthy crimping is, and always will be: warm up well, don't overdo it especially when tired, avoid foot slips, train crimping in control on a fingerboard before unleashing on stuff at your limit, eat well, stay hydrated. If you're psyched then add in finger massage and icing after climbing. Anything else is just tinkering around the edges.

My hunch would be that this stuff would have a very very slight beneficial effect relative to the above, but if you're time poor and have a few quid spare then hey why the hell not? Plus the placebo effect of chucking money at some fancy sounding herbal ingredients with the word "crimp" bolted on may well be worth the notes on its own.

I think Paul B's general point about more sponsored climbers pushing "health products" e.g. this stuff, snack bars, organicly woven alfafa hemp yogurt guava shots is worthy of discussion. I think this is definitely in the "tinkering round the edges" category relative to the obvious eating (normal food), drinking (water), sleeping, training. Do we really need to be told that such-a-body eats such-a-thing ? Does anyone think this stuff makes any real difference? Or are we just becoming subsumed by aspirational pseud nonsense? I'm afraid I found it far more interesting wondering exactly what cocktail of speed and coke Jerry used on Evolution, or what Dave Graham's favourite green is, than knowing that James Pearson tackles a posh flapjack after a redpoint. I apologise for such cynicism, but I miss Dense 

[Wood FT]

FWIW I got a bottle a while back and found my finger niggles went away when I massaged them regularly.

Or are we just becoming subsumed by aspirational pseud nonsense? I'm afraid I found it far more interesting wondering exactly what cocktail of speed and coke Jerry used on Evolution, or what Dave Graham's favourite green is, than knowing that James Pearson tackles a posh flapjack after a redpoint. I apologise for such cynicism, but I miss Dense 

Right on

[account_inactive]

http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm

I've used it before with positive results. Makes your breath smell. There are stories on the bodybuilding forums of people crushing up pills and then using DMSO as the transport agent. I'm guessing this is probably better that the snake crimp oil

[Baldy]

I'm willing to lend it the benefit of the doubt if it stops my fingers hurting tbh.

The last two years have been blighted by injury so if the only thing that it does is convince me to massage my fingers more...then so be it.
It works - and goes a long way too.

 

I guess my point is - that placebo or not,
my fingers seem to heal faster and injure less when I am using it, and the bottle I have had for 6 months is still going strong... It has been a good investment imo.

Although I guess I have lost more money to trips since I have been able to climb more... Maybe I should ask for a refund? 

[nicboarder]

Crimp oil is not meant for skin on hands like someone mentioned above like other products such as climb on. It's for alleviating tendon/joint pain and inflammation and you are meant to massage deep into affected area 3 times a day in cases of injury.

It smells nice, and it's like any massage oil really in that it allows effective pressured movement across the skin (lube!). I have been using it on my dodgy elbow, but as I don't really know what's wrong with my elbow, (joint inflammation, discomfort and restricted movement) I wouldn't know if it would be good enough to help. Also I never manage to consistently use it 3 times a day, maybe if I did it might miraculously heal my spannered elbow.

I think any amount of regular deep tissue massage will have some benefit to minor niggles. But can't see it being much use for more serious tendinitis or arthritic pain, could be wrong though I guess.

As for ibuleve and similar products pharmacist told my man that they become less effective if used regularly, and shouldn't use it if you have used it on same problem in last 6 months, not sure if there is truth to this, but pharmacy bloke seemed to think it would be a waste of time and money if you use it regularly.

My doc told me most effective treatment to reduce inflammation (had a sprain, and tendon inflammation) is a course of oral ibuprofen, take regularly for 7 days to allow it to actually reduce the inflammation and start to heal, oh and rest. I ignored the rest bit and kept popping the ibuprofen.

[TobyD]

I've heard the same about topical anti-inflammatories; a bit of a waste of time.
never underestimate the placebo effect of a potent smelling cream you rub on. I've become quite open to the idea of intentionally deceiving myself that something will work, in the hope of getting maximum placebo effect. One of the best things about tiger balm is the feeling that anything that makes your eyes water HAS to work...

All the evidence i've ever seen says oral NSAIDS are far more effective than topical for both pain relief and reducing inflammation. The advantage of topical is that it doesn't make your stomach lining bleed if you take it regularly for any length of time, whereas oral may well do.

The irony, in a climbing context is that a lot of people will be taking it for a tendinopathy which has little or no inflammatory element, (despite being routinely referred to as 'tendonitis').

Anyway, screw tiger balm this stuff is the shit:
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/290777606552?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0

and has a much funnier name.

[Nigel]

Crimp oil is not meant for skin on hands like someone mentioned above like other products such as climb on. It's for alleviating tendon/joint pain and inflammation and you are meant to massage deep into affected area 3 times a day in cases of injury.

You've got to wonder how much of the benefit is due to the massage vs the product ingredients. I note that the instructions for use are to massage it thoroughly. What about a pure topical application to test efficiacy of the ingredients only? Vs massage with olive oil?

My doc told me most effective treatment to reduce inflammation (had a sprain, and tendon inflammation) is a course of oral ibuprofen, take regularly for 7 days to allow it to actually reduce the inflammation and start to heal, oh and rest.

As Toby says this is a fairly well established fact in the world of over the counter medicine (obviously prescription drugs may be even more effective). Hence why the world of medicine recommend these over topical treatments.

[slackline]

I havent been using it for a few weeks now - (because we all know how easy it is to forgo prevention when there is nothing bad happening) and I just got an A2 tweak.
I have the bottle of crimp oil at work so I will use it every day at lunchtime and see what happens.
I will not use Ibuprofen orally or as a gel (after a quick search, apparently ingesting too much can hurt your liver...who knew? )

I will report back.
and then we can form a judgement based on my extensive data sampling. 

Induce a few more A2 tweaks (ideally of the same severity at the same time).

On one massage crimp oil.
On the second just massage.
On the third apply crimp oil and don't massage.
On the fourth massage olive oil.

Maintain deep massage on the three fingers for the same amount of time.

Please report back which heals fastest.

[andy_e]

and pop another one but don't do anything to it at all.

[Bonjoy]

There are stories on the bodybuilding forums of people crushing up pills and then using DMSO as the transport agent.

Think I'll stick with Thomas Cook

[tomtom]

There are stories on the bodybuilding forums of people crushing up pills and then using DMSO as the transport agent.

Think I'll stick with Thomas Cook

All inclusive?

[slackline]

and pop another one but don't do anything to it at all.

I reckon that would heal slowest.

[andy_e]

Well, that's the control test. What if it healed quickest? Or at the same pace?

[SA Chris]

Crimp Oil
Tip Juice

I'm patenting Sloper Lotion before anyone else markets it.

[andy_e]

I've got dibs on Undercut Unguent.

[slackline]

You don't always need a control though, you're trying to compare two (or more) treatment regimes.

You don't have to have an arm where you "do nothing" as a control.  Rather you use the current (best) existing method and see if the new device/treatment/intervention is at best non-inferior (but cheaper) or hopefully in some way superior.

For example theres a study I'm involved in looking at ways of treating haemorrhoids and is looking to see if a newish technique called haemorrhoidal artery ligation (HAL) has a lower recurrence rate at one year post-surgery compared to the current widely used method of rubber band ligation (RBL).  At no point would anyone consider having a control arm where they do not treat the haemorrhoids, because over all you want things to improve faster than they would normally.  Its still possible to see if HAL is more effective relative to RBL though.

In this instance, given that it seems that massage is known to improve healing (from what others have posted above, I've not researched the literature myself) I'd be surprised if it healed quickest or at the same pace.

[metal arms]

Jam jam - a soothing fruit based jelly to rub on your knackered crack climbing hands

[SA Chris]

I was intrigued too, so did a bit of reading.

It's main ingredient (Helichrysum Italicum) has some decent evidence for an anti-inflammatory effect (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11902802).

Wintergreen is the same stuff you find in tiger balm - inside the body it metabolises to make anti-inflammatory chemicals, but for topical applications the biggest effect is probably pain-relief, probably caused by counter-irritation (http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7446/995)

I couldn't find any evidence for peppermint doing anything effective, though it's in that nice 'cool gel' that the physios use with ultrasound. Same with lineolic acid - lots of effects in the body but using it topically is like pouring petrol on your car bonnet.

Sounds like it smells nice. I've bought some.

But when mixed in the right proportions they can produce something amazing. It's like Alchemy.

[duncan]

Sounds like it smells nice.

Olefactory (and taste) processing mainly occurs in the limbic system.  This is also an important centre for emotion and long-term memory - Proust knew his neurophysiology.  The limbic system modulates pain and is associated with the emotional response to pain.  Nice smells have the potential to alleviate pain.

[masonwoods101]

http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm

I've used it before with positive results. Makes your breath smell. There are stories on the bodybuilding forums of people crushing up pills and then using DMSO as the transport agent. I'm guessing this is probably better that the snake crimp oil

gonna start marketing it my self in a little bottle....

[SpanishJuan]

DMSO ==

TLA's & FLA's Acronyms are only useful/work when you know your audience/people you're talking to understands them.

[SA Chris]

massage with olive oil?

[Jaspersharpe]

But when mixed in the right proportions they can produce something amazing. It's like Alchemy.

Wintergreen? Peppermint? Alchemy? Could it be........!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=TkZFuKHXa7w