Effect of Topical Products Extracted from Essential Oils of Capsicum, Apium graveolens and Mentha Plants on the Pain Intensity in Patients with Inflammatory Pain

Abstract

Background: Inflammatory pain is the spontaneous hypersensitivity to pain that occurs in response to tissue damage and inflammation. Recently herbal remedies have been considered for less complications. The two topical products of Capsicum (Capex Topical cream) Apium graveolens and Mentha (CM lotion) can reduce the inflammatory. Since Capex Topical cream causes skin irritation, it seems that its composition with the other product could probably reduce this complication. Methods: This experimental study was performed on 60 patients referred to orthopedic clinic of Shahid Yahyanejad Hospital, Babol in 2018. Patients were randomly divided into three treatment groups. Data collection was done by a researcher-made questionnaire, which included two parts of individual characteristics and the severity of pain. The severity of pain was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) before intervention and two and four weeks after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 software and P < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The results showed that the intensity of pain after use of each of the products decreased in all three groups. In addition, our results demonstrated that application of Capex Topical Cream was more effective that use of CM lotion in decreasing the pain intensity (P < 0.05). Moreover, the intensity of pain after topical application of the combined lotion of CM and Capex Topical cream significantly decreased (P < 0.05), however the decrease in pain intensity using combined solution was not significant compared to application of Capex Topical cream or CM lotion alone. Conclusions: The present study showed that the use of all topical products reduces the severity of pain and due to the less side effects and complications such as skin irritation in application of combined solution and better acceptance by patients, it could be suggested the use of combined solution as a better alternative to reduce inflammatory pains.