Initial Report

Initial Report
All Terrain Recovery Rub

October 12, 2005

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 just had my second child in June of this year and he has already been on his first backpacking trip and is soon to go on his second. 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.

Initial Impressions: It has a very intriguing smell, with the menthol odor present but offset by a very rich herbal scent. It has an even more intriguing list of ingredients. Almond oil, arnica, cinnamon oil, kava kava extract, olive oil and sweet clover leaf extract are not things found in your average drugstore menthol rub. I don't wonder so much at the almond and olive oil, although they are nice additions to the product and probably contribute greatly to the texture and richness of the cream, but the arnica, extracts, and cinnamon oil did make me curious. So I investigated.

Arnica is a flower from central Europe that has been long been used for treating sprains and bruises. Apparently cinnamon oil also has a long history of medicinal use - four thousand years and counting. It is most commonly used as an astringent, a warming stimulant, a treatment for flatulence, an antiseptic, an antifungal, and a number of other uses. My presumption is that in the Recovery Rub it is used for its skin-warming property. Kava kava extract is apparently believed to help induce relaxation. Sweet Clover leaf is used as a homeopathic remedy for headaches and hemorrhages. So the Recovery Rub is a treatment for sore muscles and joints that utilizes traditional natural treatments in addition to good old tried-and-true menthol. I'm intrigued indeed.

On to texture. It's reasonably thick, like a good hand cream. No greasy residue at all, and it rubs in quickly, leaving the skin feeling quite soft and slightly tingly. At first the smell of menthol is very strong, but then that rich herbal scent takes over - so rich that as I sit here typing this with an empty pre-breakfast stomach it almost makes me feel overwhelmed. I didn't have this strong an olfactory/gastronomical reaction when I used it the other day.

Test Plan

I don't typically wish to make myself sore, but I'll make an effort to push myself a little harder for the next four months. This is a difficult item to really verify the effectiveness of, but I'll use it when needed and pay careful attention to the effects I can observe. If the scent of the rub continues to have an adverse effect on me I'll report on that as well. Any other concerns or effects that arise will be reported on.

Thanks to All Terrain and BGT for the privilege of participating in this test.

Read more reviews of All Terrain gear
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Reviews > Personal Hygiene > Toiletries > All Terrain Recovery Rub > Colleen Porter > Initial Report

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