Health / Muscle Pain Relievers / A Tiger Tale

Summary: Tiger Balm is a fast-acting and an effective way of relieving muscular aches and pains.

I use Tiger Balm for nausea (rub it on nose), stomach cramps (rub it on stomach),  and itchiness (such as mosquito bites and rashes).   It is also good to rub on your neck, ears, and forehead to repel mosquitos.

More than 20 million jars of Tiger Balm are sold each year in more than 85 countries worldwide, because as one of their slogans says Tiger Balm "Works where it hurts." 

Aw Chu Kin was an imperial court herbalist from China who moved to Burma more that one hundred years ago to open a medicine shop and practice his profession.  He took with him  an ancient recipe used to relieve aches and muscle pain.  The name Tiger Balm is based on the anglicized name of Chu Kin's son Aw Boon Haw.

Tiger Balm's active ingredients are Menthol, Camphor, Dementholised mint oil, Cajuput oil, Clove bud oil, Cassia oil.  The remaining ingredients are petroleum jelly and paraffin. Red Tiger Balm contains ammonium hydroxide as a coloring agent.   Note: No Tigers are used in the manufacture or testing of the product.

Aw Boon Haw and his brother Aw Boon Par, brought Tiger Balm to Singapore in about 1926.   The brothers fled Singapore during World War II.  Boon Par died in Burma during the war, and Boon Haw returned to Singapore.

Haw and Par were very astute businessmen and built a legendary fortune from the Tiger Balm and publishing endeavors. One of the Aw brothers' highly visible philanthropic endeavors was the creation of beautiful public gardens in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Fujian Province. 

The Singapore Garden (Haw Par Villa) has more than 1,000 statues and 150 large dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, and history.  One of the most interesting displays is the Ten Courts of Hell.  Although not particularly shocking by today's standards, it terrified me as a child (and probably caused irreparable damage).  For example, there are graphic depictions of people having their hands cut off for stealing or being smashed by boulders for not being a good child. The Ten Courts of Hell are covered quite well at:
Ten Courts of Hell: http://www.spi.com.sg/spi_files/haw_par/main02.htm

I stock up on Tiger Balm when I visit Singapore every several years, but it is quite available everywhere in the civilized world.