I have tried it on and off over the years for various muscular aches and pains. Personally it has very little effect on me unless the ache is very minor and near the surface.

I use Voltaren Gel for shin splints. I experience extreme pain from shin splints anytime I run for a few days in a row. This problem has been going on for the last 12 years (when I was in Jr. High). If I push through the pain for a couple of weeks it will get so bad that I won’t be able to walk for a couple of days. Ever since my first year of track I haven’t been able to run competitively. About six months ago as I was walking out of the doctor’s office a sales rep came in with Voltaren. The doctor stopped me to gave me the sample tube. With that tube I was able to train for a 5k race and come in 3rd. In a week from now I will be running a marathon. The gel has changed my life because it has brought relief to my legs. I have international insurance that is kind of a pain to deal with so I just pay for the tubes out of pocket and they cost $32. During my training times they last about 3 weeks. I don’t take full dosages because I don’t have time to put it on four times a day. I usually end up putting it on 2 to 3 times a day and my off days sometimes I don’t put it on at all since walking doesn’t create pain. Yet even when not taking full dosages it does the trick.

Now another poster said that he has used the gel on and off for years. I am not sure where he was getting it because the drug was only approved by the FDA in October of 2007. Now I do have a Mexican friend who said she remembered her grandmother using it for her sciatic pain but again that was in Mexico. I honestly think my friend had it mistaken for something else because I don't think the drug is 20 years old.