How to Use Heat and Cold Therapy to Treat Pain

Heat and cold therapy have long been utilized as tools for combating inflammation and pain. Do you know why? Discover the role each play in treating your symptoms and when you should use heat over cold. Heat is NOT the best form of therapy for all injuries.  As a matter of fact, heat therapy can make some conditions much worse. Our Austin team is prepared to help you find ways to treat your injuries and pain naturally and without the need to turn to pharmaceuticals.

Ice or Heat?

We all have heard of the soothing benefits of ice and heat on pain, but do you know which to use and when? Natural, home remedies can help your body cope with pain associated with a recent injury or condition without you needing to rely on harmful pharmaceuticals or invasive procedures.  Knowing how to use heat and cold therapy properly can really help you get that instant relief when you need it.  A good rule of thumb to follow is, if your injury is recent, inflamed, red and painful cold therapy is your go-to treatment.  Cold therapy helps relieve pain symptoms that are associated with exercise or acute inflammation.  Heat therapy, also referred to as therapeutic heating and thermotherapy, takes the sting out of muscle pain–particularly muscle pain that originates from over-exertion, spasms, cramps and  tight muscle “knots” or trigger points.

Inflammatory Responses

Your body has an amazing ability to fend off disease, bacterial invasion and other undesirables in your system.  When your body detects something amiss from an infection or injury, the natural response is inflammation.  Your immune system has the ability to sense infection (alien microbes) or injuries (broken cells/tissues) and begins defending your body with the inflammatory response for protection. This inflammatory response is a natural response following tissue damage that helps defend your body from harmful substances.  The inflammatory response triggers the renewal of normal tissue while evacuating dead or dying tissues from your body.  

Heat Therapy

Some patients make the mistake of thinking that heat or cold therapy offers the same benefits and can be used interchangeably at your discretion. This is not true.  Heat and cold therapy produce different effects. Using one form of therapy can cause results that are not appropriate for your injury or infection and can actually make things worse.  For example,  never apply heat to acute inflammation such as arthritis or to an infection or fresh injury! Ice is best for for soothing inflamed tissue.  What is heat therapy good for? Heat therapy is very effective for dealing with delayed-onset-muscle soreness (DOMS).  Many athletes will use a hot tub after unfamiliar exercise to help with muscle soreness.  Heat can offer analgesic benefits and has the power to break through a few centimeters of tissue to the actual tissues causing your pain.  An increase in temperature speeds up cellular activity and your unique biochemistry which can help treat pain associated with exercise and trigger points. Heat therapy is also great at boosting your immune system activity because it increases your circulation. And don’t downplay the real, psychological benefits of heat therapy. Heat calms, reassures and comforts.

Icing 101

Cryotherapy is gaining momentum in clinics across the country because of the advances in technology that make this type of therapy more convenient, more comfortable, more affordable and more effective. Cryotherapy target-treats area of your body by significantly lowering the temperature at those exact locations.  Why try to reduce the temperature of painful areas? Cold temperatures slows your body’s metabolic activity while numbing nerve endings.  Cold therapy also constricts capillaries which minimizes your inflammation symptoms.  Numbing painfully inflamed tissues while reducing inflammation is a powerful tool.  

When is cold therapy/icing used? Many chronic pain and overuse injuries benefit from this type of therapy. Some of the most common conditions/injuries that benefit from icing include:  carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, supraspinatus tendinitis, iliotibial band syndrome, patellofemoral pain syndrome, shin splints, and plantar fasciitis.  Knowing how and when to ice is an essential piece of knowledge for your natural-pain-relief arsenal. It provides you with a non-pharmaceutical form of pain relief that you can perform in your home or on the go.  Icing is not a curative treatment; it is an analgesic — a pain-reliever.  If you are needing to use cold therapy to treat pain and inflammation, make an appointment with a provider at Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center so we can get to the source of your pain and help provide you with preventative strategies so your pain doesn’t reoccur.

When You’re Numb, You’re Done

One of the common mistakes patients make with cold therapy is either under or overdoing it.  Do you know how long you should ice an area? The general rule of thumb with icing is “when you’re numb your done.” If you are not sure if you are really numb, close your eyes and lightly touch the iced skin.  If you feel pressure, but not pain you are sufficiently numb.  Stop icing and allow the tissue to warm up.  After tissues warm up again, you can repeat the treatment. Icing sessions can be repeated as often as you like, provided that you give your tissues time to warm up between sessions.  

Call for a Heat and Cold Therapy Consultation

Take control of your life again by enlisting the help of our team to naturally treat your chronic pain, injury or condition.  Our Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center team includes a medical doctor, chiropractor, and experienced massage therapists allowing us the opportunity to give you a full range of services without sending you out of the office. If you would like to learn how our clinic and services can help treat your back pain – and prevent future pain – give our office a call at (512) 806-0015 today to schedule your free consultation!