Shaq attack...your back

I always loved witnessing those moments of Shaquille O'neil total beastitude on the court. Well today is the day when I finally get to square off against one of my childhood idols. Shaq v. Gorinski yeeah!

Here is an action shot of him:


"
Icy to dull the pain. Heat to relax it away."

What on earth is that supposed to mean? Is IcyHot hot? Or cold? Well kind of both. Why of course it's BOTH! And neither.

It's a bit of marketing genius. The product is always at room temperature (unless you take specific measures against that) and therefore neither hot nor cold. It does, however, "trick" our sensory receptors and feels like...something.

Most importantly, IcyHot doesn't hurt anything. So why not?

Today I saw Shaq making the claim that Smart Relief pads are "The same therapy used by doctors and physical therapists." That's true in the same way that my physician friends and I playing 2-on-2 in the driveway is the game played in the NBA.

There are a handful of physical therapist that pride themselves on using no modalities to treat their patients. No electronic stimulation or ultrasound or whatnot. And that make sense given the fact that these modalities do practically nothing to address the root cause of poor movement patterns and other mechanical issues. But I also know that these treatments do have some physiological basis and can often provide temporary relief of symptoms. And even temporary relief is valuable when you're in constant or chronic pain.

At best, modalities such as electric stimulation is an adjunct to treatments like hands-on work and select exercises that do address root causes. But why bother with all the effort when you can...

"Turn on Smart-Relief, and turn off pain." 

 Really, it's as simple as that.

But then again, if your painful condition IS as simple as that, more power to you and Smart-Relief!

Still, I'd much rather see Shaq promote products like this: