Best muscle pain relief rubs and recovery balms to soothe aches, tried and tested

Pure Sport, created by rugby players Grayson Hart and Adam Ashe while they were teammates at Glasgow Warriors, has gained quite the cult following over the past year or so. The story goes that after years of playing a high contact physical game – and having to deal with constant aches and pains – they swapped painkillers for CBD and became hooked on the benefits. So much so, they decided to create their own brand of CBD wellness products to help other athletes.

For those who don’t know, CBD is a chemical found naturally within the cannabis plant and does not contain THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, so there’s no hit or illegal high.

Out of all the Pure Sport products on offer (the brand sells everything from oils to capsules, nootropics and even apparel), the muscle and joint balm is our favourite. Last year, when training for the London Marathon, this small 50ml bottle lived in our bedside drawer, ready to rub into sore muscles pre-bed.

It has quite a potent smell – probably due to the peppermint and lemongrass ingredients – one whiff and we’re transported straight back to marathon season. Its yellow waxy consistency is smooth, if a little greasy (you’ll want to wash your hands afterwards) until it fully absorbs into the skin.

Sports skincare brand Premax – created by leading Australian sports physiotherapist, Randall Cooper – has a range of products specifically designed for cyclists and runners. Think: sports suncream, anti-chafe and chamois cream. The recovery cream comes in a 200ml bottle, so it’s great value for money and is specifically designed to assist recovery from sports and exercise.

With a distinct sour cherry smell, the cream includes tart cherry extract, niacinamide, allantoin and arnica to help soothe distressed skin, while the sweet almond, shea and cocoa butter help to restore skin hydration and resilience. It sinks into the skin really easily, giving you a natural post-workout glow. Basically, it’s a fancy, hard-working body moisturiser perfect for sore muscles, and we really rate it.

If you’re looking for something fast-acting – and cold – then Biofreeze is great for providing instant pain relief for sore muscles, backaches and sore joints. The bottle for this is pretty big – 473ml – and lasts for ages (honestly, we’re still working through the same bottle we bought back in 2018).

As this is a spray, there’s no need to rub this one in, so great for reaching those hard-to-get-to areas. It even works well when sprayed upside down. But, boy, it smells. One spray is too many and the menthol really hits the back of your throat – so don’t go overboard. If you’re putting it on before bed, do give it time to dry before climbing into your bedsheets else the minty smell will linger for days.

Packaged in a small 90ml tin, the exterior of this body salve doesn’t scream luxury, but the £120 price point most definitely does. Why so expensive? The fact that it’s packed with 1,500mg of fast-acting and potent active CBD (that’s one and half times as much as the Pure Sport version (£40, Puresportcbd.com).

With a waxy consistency this CBD body salve, from the Holistic Impact range, is created by renowned osteopath Kemmy Gichaba to combat a wide range of aches and pains – and it smells divine (thanks to the eucalyptus and lavender oils). As soon as you unscrew the lid and delve into the wax, the essential oils create a calming and relaxing aroma. Plus, as it guarantees zero THC, it’s safe for high-level athletes to use for sports recovery.

This soothing sleep plus massage relief with an inbuilt massager rollerball, from well-known brand This Works, is by far the easiest to apply. It looks just like a roll-on deodorant, and works just the same – you simply roll the product onto stiff or overworked muscles and it gently ekes out any knots. We love that it’s not messy or sticky, and so easy to use.

Made with black pepper, hemp-derived CBD (2,448mg per bottle) and magnesium it’s designed to help both relax any muscle tension and also prepare your body for sleep. We recommend using the rollerball to massage limbs and target specific acupressure points after a workout and before bed – it’s the perfect way to unwind from the day. A night-time routine must-have.

This magnesium chloride spray is infused with lemon oil, arnica and capsicum to add a little heat and speed up recovery time after a workout. Simply spray onto the skin and massage in to soothe hard-working, aching muscles. It absorbs into the skin quickly and is great for reducing lactic acid, helping to hydrate the body and minimise tightness and cramping. We sprayed it on our tired legs and feet, roughly ten to 15 minutes before bed, and found it really helped to release and relax tense muscles.

BetterYou is one of the cheaper post-exercise products out there and is also one of the more environmentally friendly – the bottle is made from fully-recyclable plant-based plastic and also palm oil-free. We also really like the Magnesium oil body spray (£13.95, Betteryou.com) – a saturated solution of Zechstein magnesium chloride – which is particularly great straight out the shower.

Arriving in a cute little drawstring bag, this self-heating CBD balm (300mg strength) is designed to melt away tension and help take the edge off your agonies. We love that you don’t have to dig your fingers into the wax to scoop this product out – instead, you just twist the bottle and glide the balm on. It feels light, smells of peppermint and ever-so-gently heats your muscles. It’s a salve for the senses.

For those who aren’t already familiar with this British brand, MOi + ME is an all-star collection of high-quality CBD products that offer moments of wellbeing to help counteract the daily stressors of modern life, so that you can get on with your day (while prioritising self-care).

If lifting weights in the gym has given you DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness), that’s made you feel weak (at best) and unable to walk downstairs (at worst), Neals Yard’s arnica salve can go some way towards making the muscle soreness feel a little more bearable. Made with 99.9 per cent organic ingredients, this cocktail of plant-derived extracts – including arnica, beeswax, rosemary, ginger and lavender – can help soothe the tension in post-workout muscles and ease achy joints. Just apply a thin layer and massage gently into desired areas of the skin, et voilà – no more nagging aches.

British body care brand Bloom and Blossom want us to spend the same amount of time massaging our legs as we spend cleansing and moisturising our faces... It’s a tall order, especially at this time of year when our pins don’t see much (read: literally any) sunlight and they’re lucky to get a weekly moisturiser (and/or monthly shave) – let alone a massage, too. But perhaps once you try the legs eleven cooling leg serum, you’ll change your mind.

Packaged in a fun millennial pink bottle, the fresh, minty serum pumps out easily and isn’t at all sticky – instead, it lightly glides on, cooling and revitalising tired legs. It actually reminded us of aftersun – partially thanks to its aloe vera leaf juice and peppermint leaf oil – in fact, this may be our new holiday must-have, as we imagine its naturally derived ingredients make it just as good for soothing sunburn as it is for invigorating sore legs. We really were amazed by how quickly the serum sunk into our legs, so if you’re looking for something that will leave your legs silky smooth, this is the product for you.

Hand-made in Cornwall, Inlight Beauty – founded by homeopath and renowned skin expert, Dr Mariano Spiezia – fills the gap in the market for affordable, luxury, 100 per cent organic, calming, protecting and nourishing skincare products for a range of concerns. The recovery balm for aching joints and tense, strained muscles comes with a tiny wooden spoon to help scoop out the waxy product (goodbye sticky fingers) which then instantly melts on the skin into an oil.

Cleverly harnessing British-grown plants such as rosemary, hypericum, ginger and thyme, this balm – previously known as Joint Easy – is formulated with sensitive skins in mind and laced with essential oils. We found it the highly concentrated balm incredibly moisturising – a little does go a long way. Whether or not it helps to help take the edge off those niggling twinges is yet to be determined – but it does a great job at soothing and quenching dry skin.

Starring muscle relieving botanicals, active aromatherapy and essential oils, Tea and Tonic has a wholly holistic approach to addressing tired, sore and achy muscles. The brand even describes its muscle tonic relief balm as ‘a nutrient-charged fusion of age-old folk remedies’. Hand blended in small batches for optimal freshness, when you unscrew the lid of this balm you’re immediately hit with the potent smell of peppermint. We found this balm particularly greasy, so go easy on how much you scoop out the jar.

For those plagued by persistent soreness, consider this the ache-easing weapon of choice that unifies the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities of CBD with carefully sourced and selected plant extracts that work in harmony with one another. Powered by inflammation-easing arnica, black pepper, sage and tea tree oil in an attempt to combat stiffness, you can choose between either 500mg (£45) or 1000mg (£55) of CBD.

We tried the 500mg version and loved how easy it was to pump directly onto the problem area. The texture of this muscle balm is much more like that of a cream or serum – so it’s no where near as sticky as some of the waxy formulas on this list. It feels immediately cooling. The result? Happy, calmed, relieved muscles.