I do have hot showers. They don't affect my pain one way or the other, but it's good to be painfree enough now to enjoy a shower. The bath episode was before I started on prednisolone.

I don't tend to need anything for pain except an occasional Osteopanadol after a taper. The ingredients for Aspercreme are:
Trolamine salicylate 10%, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice, cetyl alcohol, glycerin, methylparaban, mineral oil, potassium phosphate, propylparaban, stearic acid, triethanolamine.

Trolamine salicylate is another name for diclofenac, an NSAID. It might be okay for some to use with prednisone, but I'm being careful. I also avoid parabans - they're endocrine disruptors which are implicated in some auto-immune illnesses. I've tossed out all make-up, perfumes & skin creams for the same reason (endocrine disruptors) and have replaced plastic food storage containers with glass ones to avoid the endocrine disruptors in plastics. What a boring negative person I must sound, but I really am serious about avoiding whatever I can that might make me more unwell. Life was so much simpler eating junky food and ignoring all the chemical exposure.