The first sentence in the subject was heard on a television commercial for Bayer Aspirin. What does it mean? Do other pain relievers relieve pain that is not “right at the site”? Is it just standard advertising double-talk?
Don’t try to make sense of advertising. It is the devil. Saying Aspirin relieves pain was apparently not enough for the ad firm. It has to be more verbose to fill a 15 second spot. So yes, the answer is double-talk.
Aspirin does act “right at the sight” byinhibiting cyclooxygenase which are responsible for prostoglandin production (cause inflammation), so I think the ad is accurate.
The idea is that aspirin works at the location of the injury, preventing the pain signal from occuring. Other pain medications may work by interfering with the transmission of the pain signal through the nerve system.