It’s inevitable, your body is going to hurt sometimes. When that happens you’re going to want to do something that can ease the pain, but do you know what to do? Heat and ice application are two great ways to help speed your body’s recovery time. But you must know which situation calls for ice, and which calls for heat.

[highlight style=”light” color=”#eaeaea”]Heat Therapy[/highlight] Heat therapy can take the form of a heat pack, hot cloth, hot water or heating pad and various other options. It is typically for chronic injuries or injuries that aren’t showing signs of inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s way of letting you know something has been aggravated. The area will be any combination of the following things: reddened, swollen, hot, and often painful. If you’re experiencing any of these things heat is not the best option for you. You will only further irritate your injury.

Heat therapy allows the injured muscle to relax by opening the capillaries and improving circulation to the treated area. The use of heat increases circulation to the area and helps speed recovery time by transporting fresh blood cells and nutrients to the area while removing waste.

Heat therapy is beneficial to are suffering from:

• Arthritis
• Stiff muscles
• Deep muscular injuries

 
Heat therapy helps:

• Before a work out
• Improve circulation
• Untighten muscles
• Increase flexibility
• Promote tissue healing by increasing blood flow and bring nutrients to the area
• Speed up recovery time

 
Heat Contraindications (when not to use heat):

• Immediately after a workout (ice therapy is better in these cases)
• Acute inflammatory conditions or joints
• Open Wounds
• Dermatitis
• Fever
• Skin issues, with redness or blisters
• Bleeding
• Malignant tumors and infections
• Circulatory issues

 

How to properly use heat application:

• Do not fall asleep while using it
• Do not exceed 20 minutes of usage (set a timer)
• If using a heating pad, set it on medium, never high.

 

[highlight style=”light” color=”#eaeaea”]Cold Therapy[/highlight] Cold is generally used for acute and chronic injuries to reduce pain, inflammation and swelling. Cold therapy is commonly used in the form of ice bags, cold packs, ice massage, cooling sprays or even bags of frozen vegetables.

During an injury, the blood vessels around the injured tissues open up, rushing blood, nutrients and fluids to the area to help the tissues heal. The issue is that the increased blood flow often causes the healthy tissues surrounding the injury to swell and become inflamed. If the swelling is not attended to it could take the injury longer to heal and fluids in the area may press on nerves around the injury site and increase pain. Cold therapy cools the surface of the skin and the underlying tissues and causes the blood vessels to narrow, slowing the amount of blood that is transported to the injury site. This facilitates fluid drainage and reduces pain.

Cold therapy is beneficial to those with:

• Edema
• Swelling
• Reduces pain and inflammation and slows the metabolic action
• New burns
• Bleeding

 
Cold therapy helps:

• Decrease local inflammation and edema
• Muscle spasms
• Slow bleeding
• Soothe new burns
• Lower fever

 
Cold Therapy Contraindications (when not to use cold therapy):

• Before a workout
• Open wounds
• Hypersensitivity to cold (Raynaud’s, uticaria, MS)
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Patients with angina pectoris (chest pain), cardiac dysfunctions or arterial insufficiency
• Patients who have areas where they lack feeling on their skin (cutaneous anesthesia)

 
How to properly use cold application:

• Apply right after the injury
• Cover area with moist towel layer, then place the ice bag/pack over it. Cover the other side with a dry towel layer.
• Apply for 10 to 20 minutes for acute pain, edema or bleeding
• Do not exceed 20 minutes of usage (set a timer)

 
I hope that this information is helpful to you and that you will one day be able to use this information as a reference along your wellness journey.

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