Ice vs. Heat Choose your treatment wisely. There always seems to be a lot of confusion on when to use ice and when to use heat. In truth, while both ice and heat therapies can be effective they are fundamentally different in the way they work to provide healing and relief, and using the wrong treatment at the wrong time can further aggravate your pain or injury. Ice: Ice is used in treating acute (new) injuries such as ankle sprains, fractures, and meniscus tears (torn cartilage in the knee). These type of injuries produce sudden, and often severe, pain and bring swelling (inflammation), tenderness, and the inability to put weight on the area. Ice helps to bring down the inflammation and swelling. Decreasing the swelling around your injury helps to control and ease the pain. Ice treatments are 10-15 minutes long. Heat: Heat is used to treat sore muscles, spasms, and to stimulate blood flow to the area. Heat can also be used prior to activities when you are recovering from muscle strains. In this case, heat is being used to help warm up and relax the injured muscles prior to activity. Sufferers of chronic pain, such as arthritis, often find that heat treatments bring some relief. The goal with heat treatment is warmth. If it is too hot you can damage your skin and other tissues. Heat treatments can run from 15-30 minutes. A good rule to follow: If the area feels worse or if inflammation increases two hours after using heat therapy, return to ice therapy because the inflammatory phase is still active. Ice & Heat: There are times when you can use both ice and heat to treat an injury, this is known as contrast therapy. If a muscle is torn or severely strained, inflammation will happen. Ice is used to bring the swelling down and control the initial inflammation from the injury. However, after the inflammation is gone, heat can be used to help with the healing. The added heat will increase blood flow to the injured area bringing more oxygen and nutrients to speed the healing process. Remember to monitor the injury. If inflammation returns, discontinue heat treatment. Avoid these mistakes: • Do not use heat on an acute injury. It will draw additional blood to the injury area, increasing the inflammation and swelling. Heat instead of ice can make a injury worse and lengthen the healing time needed. • Do not use ice on a sore muscle. In can induce a muscle spasm. • Do not massage an acute injury. Massage will also bring additional blood to the injured area. once again increasing swelling and inflammation. • Do not apply ice directly to the skin or injured area. Direct contact with the ice can cause tissue damage to the skin, and possibly frostbite. Use a towel or cloth to wrap the ice. • Do not overdo either heat or ice.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 16:39:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015