Solanpas Pain Relieving Patch, $5.99 

Aside from the very cool striped down packaging, this stuff works. The other night, I had the worst, the worst back pain, something I generally do not experience, but my lack of working out and my epic fall off the yoga train, plus studying all day in the worlds most uncomfortable stool, has taken its toll. The other night, after lots of complaining, my girlfriend was like, “Why aren’t you using your Solanpas things you got? I think these might work.”  I was like what? What the ‘F’ are Solanpas. She rightfully assumed that they were likely mine  because they were obviously a beauty product until she finally realized her friend Eddie, who always knows about the coolest things, actually gave them to her.

I looked at the box and the ingredients and decided that they would not kill me so I went for it. I had my girlfriend put the patch on the hard to reach offending area of my back- and let me tell you about the sweet relief. It feels like Tiger Balm but in a concentrated patch. It gets warm, but not hot and feels really good. It feels like there are a small army of tiny tiny hands massaging out your kinks.

While my back pain did not entirely go away, it did dissipate a considerable amount, and when I peeled off the patch it did not pull or tug at my skin. Later in the day I got the larger patches from the drug store, as the combination of general back pain and cramps was too much. I am happy to say, that I feel like my lower back is getting a nice massage. My back just feels better. And it feels better without the smell of anything really. I mean it does  kind of smells a little bit like old people, but old people are great, and we should respect our elders and maybe that starts with kind of smelling like them.

Either way, these little patches of retro goodness are awesome and I highly recommend for aches and pains. But as with anything, this is not medical advice and does not take the place of actually speaking with your health care professional a.k.a your Doctor.