Oxyrub Pain Relief Cream is a pain relief cream that promises to relieve pain within minutes. The cream is available through an As Seen On TV product offer. Here’s our OxyRub review.
What is Oxyrub Pain Relief Cream?
OxyRub is a pain relief cream available online through OxyRub.com or over the phone. The cream promises to provide “nearly twice the relief of a leading pain cream guaranteed”. That’s a big promise.
You apply Oxyrub Pain Relief Cream topically to your skin. The manufacturer claims that you’ll feel pain relief start within “minutes”, and then last for hours. It’s similar to menthol-based pain relief creams, but uses “essential oxygen oil” to enhance its soothing benefits.
OxyRub was created by Dr. Joseph Pergolizzi, a Florida-based doctor. Bloomberg lists Dr. Pergolizzi as a Senior Partner of Naples Anesthesia and Pain Associations.
Benefits of OxyRub
OxyRub claims to provide the following benefits:
- Clinically shown to provide nearly twice the pain relief of “a leading pain cream”
- Provides fast relief from pain caused by arthritis, bursitis, aches, bruises, and joint pain
- Absorbs into the skin within minutes with no lingering medicinal scent
- Non-irritating and safe to use every day with no prescription required
Scientific Evidence for OxyRub
OxyRub frequently mentions that it provides twice the pain relief of a leading pain cream. This isn’t some random brag: OxyRub has gone through clinical testing to demonstrate its effectiveness. That clinical trial was published in Pain Practice in February 2012 by an independent group of physicians. You can view the study at Wiley’s Online Library here. It was a double-blind, randomized study – the highest grade of clinical study you can get.
The study compared “a topical analgesic product containing menthol to the same product with the addition of oxygenated glycerol triesters (OGTs) (also called essential oxygen oil)”.
The cream was tested on 66 healthy adult subjects experiencing acute musculoskeletal pain. Patients were randomized in a single-center, double-blind study, where they received mentholated cream (MC) only, or mentholated cream that contained OGTs. Patients then self-reported their pain intensity and other pain-related metrics – like lifestyle quality and joint movement.
After 8 days, both patient groups reported significantly improved pain relief. However, patients treated with the combination product (OxyRub) were “reporting statistically significantly greater pain relief than the MC group”. In addition, the group that used OxyRub experienced “an incremental decrease in pain during each of the 7 days of treatment”.
Based on this study, OxyRub was more effective than a standard pain cream simply because it contained OGTs.
How Doe OxyRub Work?
OxyRub essentially works by adding “essential oxygen oil” to a menthol-based pain relief product. Based on the study above, adding oxygenated glycerol triesters (OGTs) enhances the effectiveness of a menthol cream.
OxyRub traces its origins back to Biblical times, when “stories abounded of a mysterious oil used by ancient healers…said to be a precious and wonderfully soothing elixir”, explains the official OxyRub website.
Traditionally, healers made this elixir by leaving an essential oil in an open vat for 20 years, letting the sun’s rays “infuse the oil with oxygen”.
Today, Dr. Joseph Pergolizzi has brought the power of super-oxygenated oil to the United States after “athletes in Europe have been using this oil for years”.
Is OxyRub Really Free?
OxyRub advertises itself as free. The official OxyRub.com website mentions a “free tube”. Any time you see the word “free” on the internet, you should be skeptical. OxyRub’s free tube isn’t quite a scam, but it’s certainly misleading. Here’s how the trial works:
- The free tube isn’t free; you’ll need to enter your credit card today to pay a $6.99 “shipping fee”
- If you don’t contact the company to cancel, your credit card will automatically be charged additional fees on the 20th day after you order
- If you forget to cancel before the 20th day, your credit card will be charged $49.99 for a 90 day supply
- If you don’t cancel after your first autoship order, the company will continue to charge you $49.99 every 90 days, shipping a new order of OxyRub to your address
- To cancel the autoship subscription, call 1-800-665-9737
If you want to avoid this shady autoship subscription, then you can also order OxyRub from Amazon, where pricing is much more straightforward.
Oxyrub Pain Relief Cream Pricing
OxyRub is priced at the following rates:
- 1 Tube (2 oz): $18.39
- 1 Tube (4 oz): $27.95
Oxyrub Pain Relief Cream Reviews: What Do Customers Have to Say?
OxyRub currently has so-so ratings on Amazon, where approximately 300 customers have given the cream an average rating of 3.6 stars out of 5. Here are some of the pros and cons customers reported in those reviews:
Pros
- Provides pain relief as advertised
- Reduces arthritis pain and joint pain, making it easier to move around
- Some customers report that it works better than ordinary menthol cream
Cons
- Not everyone experiences significant pain relief from the product
- Many customers report that it didn’t feel significantly different from pain relief creams you can buy from any supermarket
- It’s just an overpriced menthol rub, according to some customers
Should You Buy Oxyrub Pain Relief Cream?
OxyRub is a menthol rub with one big advantage: it contains “essential oxygen oil”. According to one clinical trial involving 66 patients, OxyRub was more effective than a traditional menthol rub at providing pain relief.
Unfortunately, not all customers agree with OxyRub in the real world: many customers complain that it has similar effectiveness to an ordinary menthol rub, and that it’s not worth the added cost.
There’s also the fact that OxyRub markets itself online through a “free tube” offer, which is really just an autoship program in disguise (your credit card is automatically charged $50 if you forget to cancel before the 20th day).
Ultimately, OxyRub may be worth a try if traditional menthol-based pain relief creams aren’t working for you. However, many customers claim that it wasn’t nearly as effective as they had hoped.
