I have had some arthritic stiffness in my right shoulder for years. It has been bothering me a little more lately. I rummaged through our medicine cabinets, in both bathrooms, and came up with three tubes of rubbing compound for arthritic pain. The fine print on the tubes indicate that one expired in 2004. another in 2014 and the last in 2016. Does that mean anything?

My parents kept a bottle of oil of wintergreen in their medicine cabinet. We used a little from time to time and I don’t think they ever needed to replace it. As far as I know it never lost any of its effectiveness. Certainly never lost its scent.

Judging by their scent, oil of wintergreen is one of the principal ingredients in two of these tubes. It seems to help a little when I rub it on my shoulder, and does no harm as far as I can tell. Except I’m not sure my wife will want to sleep in the same bed with me tonight.