Some of these lotions have been around a long time. If it is applied to the skin, a warm or even burning sensation results. Muscle Aches and Remedies Part 3 Capsacin is the HOT in hot peppers.

Archaeologists have found remains of hot chilies in Mexican sites dating to 7000 B.C., and the fiery fruits of the capsicum plant played and important role in ancient Aztec and Mayan mythology. This effect led to the inclusion of hot peppers or capsaicin in many muscle soothers, and arthritis rubs, including Heet liniment, ThermoRub Lotion, Sloan's Liniment, Stimurub, and Omega Oil. Nowadays high-tech machines measure the hotness of peppers which range from 3,000 to 5,000 Scoville. Capsaicin is so strong that people can detect it at a concentration as low as just one part in eleven million. In 1912 Brade Scoville, a pharmacologist working for Lockwood Davis, needed to standardize the pepper extract used to make Heet. Heet Liniment was responsible for the development of the scientific scale used to measure pepper hotness. It is one of our oldest medicinal herbs.

He invented a scale that required a panel of tasters.