Field Report

Field Report
All Terrain Recovery Rub
January 3, 2006

Manufacturer: All Terrain
Manufacturer URL: http://www.allterrainco.com/
MSRP: $9.99 US
Listed Weight: N/A
Tested Weight: 3.75 oz/106 g

Tester Name: Colleen Porter
Gender: female
Age: 30
Height: 5'8"/1.73 m
Weight: 140 lb/64 kg
Email address: tarbubble at yahoo dot com
Location: Orange County, CA

Backpacking History: I’ve been backpacking for 10 years, usually with my husband. We used to be heavyweights, but having children forced us to go ultralight, and now on my own my 3-season base weight hovers around 13 lb/6 kg. On family trips the weight usually doubles. I make some of our gear myself. Our 3-season backpacking haunts are the San Gabriel and Santa Ana mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the Grand Canyon, and winters find us in the Mojave and Colorado deserts.

Product Description: A mentholated cream intended to relieve muscle soreness. I am testing it in a 3 oz/89 ml squeeze tube with a flip-top. The active ingredient is menthol (5%), and the remaining ingredients are almond oil, arnica, caprillic-capric triglycerides, ceteareth-20, cetyl alcohol, cinnamon oil, citric acid, dimethicone, glycerin, kava kava extract, methylparaben, olive oil, propylparaben, sweet clover leaf extract, shea butter, steareth-2, and water.

Field Conditions: I have never actually taken the Recovery Rub along on a backpacking trip. I have elected to use it solely as a post-hike, at-home remedy. Conditions have been mostly cold, dry, and windy, but it has rained twice during the test period and a few hot days have popped up here and there. Temperatures have ranged from 50 F/10 C to around 85 F/30 C. Elevation is 394 feet/120 meters.

Performance: I'm really of two minds about the Recovery Rub. On one hand, I love the rich, creamy, non-greasy texture of the rub. On the other, the scent is really strong - not the menthol scent, but the additional scents that come courtesy of the herbal ingredients. I have found that when I use the Recovery Rub in the morning on my chronically sore lower back, the scent can be very upsetting to my empty stomach. At other times of the day, the scent doesn't seem to affect me as much. However, my reaction to the smell is typically short-lived, especially when the cream is being applied somewhere on the back of my body, and not directly under my nose.

I have used the Rub on my neck, shoulders, lower back, upper thighs, and glutes/hips. It is more effective on some types of soreness than others. On my sore neck, shoulders & back, the results of bending & hunching over too much (common afflictions for mothers of small children), the Recovery Rub was very effective. For muscle soreness resulting from serious overuse (I spent a day clambering over large boulders, which left me with excruciatingly sore thighs for the next three days), the Recovery Rub alone just wasn't enough. In conjunction with a good hot bath (I applied the Recovery Rub after the bath), I found it much more effective. When I was unlucky enough to come down with strep throat during the test period, I tried the Recovery Rub on my fever-sore muscles. Rather than helping, the cold/hot effect of the Recovery Rub actually exacerbated my fever-related shivering. Whoops! So for me, menthol muscle rubs are not a good idea when running a fever.

Because of the texture of the cream, the Recovery Rub is still a winner for me, despite the very strong scent. It's not greasy or watery, which are the main faults with the two other brands of mentholated creams I have used in the past. Greasy creams are a pain to clean off the hands, and then get all over clothing. Watery creams are too difficult to rub on without dripping or running.

Many thanks to both All Terrain and BGT for the opportunity to test the Recovery Rub.

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Reviews > Personal Hygiene > Toiletries > All Terrain Recovery Rub > Colleen Porter > Field Report

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