What Ingredients Are in Icy Hot?

Icy Hot topical pain-relieving products use menthol and methyl salicylate to produce temporary relief of a variety of muscle aches and pains, including arthritis, bursitis, and tendonitis. These over-the-counter analgesics work by distracting your brain from focusing on your muscle ache by producing cooling and warming sensations on the skin. Icy Hot is available in different forms, including creams, gels, patches and sleeves.

Menthol and Methyl Salicylate

• Menthol is found naturally in mint plants like spearmint. Menthol oil produces a cooling sensation, which the manufacturer of Icy Hot uses to stimulate the cool receptors on your skin. Methyl salicylate, on the other hand, causes the capillaries on your skin to dilate, which produces a warming sensation. This essential oil can be found naturally in birch bark and wintergreen leaves.

Icy Hot Cream

• Icy Hot Cream, which is designed to be rubbed directly onto the skin, comes in a tube. The formula is intended to produce a cooling sensation initially when applied and then a warming sensation to relax the effected area. The active ingredients in Icy Hot Cream are menthol 10 percent and methyl salicylate 30 percent. Inactive ingredients include carbomer, cetyl esters, emulsifying wax, oleth phosphates, and water.

Icy Hot Topical Gel and Medicated Spray

• Icy Hot Gel is designed to relieve minor pains associated with arthritis, simple backaches, and cramps by cooling the effected area. The active ingredient in the product is menthol 2.5 percent. Inactive ingredients include aloe leaf juice, allantoin, carbomer, phenoxyethanol, propylparaben, DMDM hydrantoin, glycerin, sd alcohol, steareth-2, steareth-21, triethanolamine, and water.

  Icy Hot Medicated Spray is applied by spraying the product directly on the skin. It is designed to dry quickly; therefore, you don't have to rub it in like a gel or cream. The active ingredient in Icy Hot Medicated Spray is menthol 15 percent.

Icy Hot Patches and Sleeves

• Icy Hot Patches and Icy Hot Sleeves both contain packets infused with Icy Hot. Available in a variety of sizes for use on your back, arms, legs, and neck, these patches are applied directly to the skin and provide cooling relief for muscle and joint aches. The active ingredient in the patches is menthol 5 percent.

  Icy Hot Sleeves are designed to be worn around flexible areas that make wearing a patch difficult, such as an ankle, elbow or knee. Icy Hot Sleeves are meant to provide cooling comfort and contain menthol 16 percent as its active ingredient.