Tesco Ibuprofen Gel
Tesco Ibuprofen Gel is a gel manufactured by Goldshield Pharmaceuticals for Tesco. The gel is used to relieve the pain of pulled muscles, backache, sports injuries, sprains and other muscle related injuries. I first used Tesco Ibuprofen Gel about a year ago when I managed to hurt my shoulder one day at work, at the time I knew it was nothing serious and it just felt like a pulled muscle so I decided to put some Deep Heat on it when I got home in the evening. However, I returned home from work to discover that we had no Deep Heat, so back in the car and up to the local Tesco I went.

I went to Tesco with the intention of buying Deep Heat, it seemed like an easy purchase, but when I got there they had no Deep Heat rubs in stock, only the sprays, which I didn't like the idea of at all after knowing the strong smell of Deep Heat! So, after a few minutes reading packaging of other similar products I opted for this gel I am reviewing today, Tesco Ibuprofen Gel at around the £2 mark for a 30g tube.


What is it like?
The tube itself comes in a cardboard box complete with printed instruction sheet. I have since thrown both the box and instructions away as the ingredients, warnings, contact information and dosage are printed on the tube.

Inside the tube is a clear and rather sticky feeling gel, it looks kind of like super glue and smells pretty similar too, like a cross between a super glue smell and nail varnish remover. The smell is not very pleasant, but thankfully it is reasonably subtle.


Application
Application of the gel is really easy. In my case it was my shoulder that was aching so I did need help applying the cream, this job fell into the hands of my nan as I was living with her at the time.

Following the instructions printed on the tube she applied about 2cm to my shoulder and rubbed it in really well. The tube says to apply 2 - 5cm. While the gel was being rubbed in it went from the initial cold gel feeling to a really nice warmth spreading across my shoulder and lower neck, even though the gel wasn't actually touching there.

Once the gel was completely rubbed in and my shoulder felt lovely and warm I needed to let it dry properly before I could put my top back on, I didn't mind this too much as I was planning on sitting in my room and watching a DVD anyway. The gel took probably around 10 minutes to dry completely, so when I applied this in the morning I needed to leave extra time for it to dry before getting dressed. I did try putting my t-shirt on after about 5 minutes but found that the gel made it stick to my skin and it felt really uncomfortable, so I really recommend leaving it to dry properly first wherever possible.


Does it Work?
While the gel contains Ibuprofen there are no warnings on it to say I cannot take any other painkillers while using this gel so I also took paracetamol to help ease the pain.

The tube also tells me that the dose should not be more often that every 4 hours and no more than 4 times in any 24 hours. This was fine for me as I was applying it in the morning before work, in the evening when I arrived home and then again just before bedtime.

The first time I used this gel I had a mild shoulder injury cased by twisting the wrong way at work. I used this gel 3 times a day for about a week along with taking paracetamol once a day in the evening to ease the achy pain and let me get some sleep, after this week I found that the pain in my shoulder was almost non-existent and I decided to use the gel just once a day before work to relax the muscle and to stop taking paracetamol. A few days later I stopped using the gel altogether as I felt like my shoulder was fine again.

So, I would say that although I don't think this gel alone is a cure for the pain, and I don't think it would be strong enough for extreme pain, I do think it is very good at relaxing muscles to give them a chance to heal themselves and it has a lovely warm feeling without the extremely strong and well known smell of Deep Heat.


Price
I can't remember the exact price I paid for my tube of Tesco Ibuprofen Gel, but I seem to remember it was around the £2 mark for a 30g tube. A quick check on the Tesco website tells me that you can now get a 35g tube for £1.41. I would say this is good value for money as the gel does help your muscles to relax, but I don't think it is quite as effective as the more expensive alternative Deep Heat. I would say if you are in a lot of pain then you would be wasting your money by buying Tesco Ibuprofen Gel as I don't think it is strong enough and you would be better off spending more on the more effective (in my mind) Deep Heat. However, if you are only in a slight bit of pain like I was then I would say this is a very good value alternative.


Do I recommend?
Overall, I would recommend Tesco Ibuprofen Gel for anyone who is suffering with a mild muscle ache and wants something that will provide a bit of relief to make the muscle relax and heal itself.

Thanks for reading :)