Self Care/Using Heat and Cold - part 2 (April 1, 2014)
Heat and cold are very effective pain relievers, and they are cheap and easy to use. They also have effects beyond those of pain relief -- heat increases circulation, cold decreases it and slows pain nerve conduction, and they both relieve muscle spasm -- but to get those therapeutic effects you need to use them at temperature extremes. For heat you need to use something very warm, like a hot water bottle with very hot tap water, and for cold you need to use ice. If, for example, you just use a heating pad or a cold towel, these milder forms of heat and cold will feel good but the other therapeutic effects will be absent. However, if that's all you want, great, and you have the added bonus of being able to generally use either one without regard to the type of condition. But if you want a full therapeutic effect, it's a little more work and a bit more mess, but well worth it -- particularly in the case of using ice on a new injury, which is thought actually may shorten recovery time if used properly.
A good general guideline for the use of ice is to smash it up into pieces as small as you can get them (so that it will mold better to the area of injury), place it in a plastic ziplock bag, wrap it around with a layer or two of thin toweling, then apply for about 15-20 minutes every couple of hours. For heat, use a hot water bottle as described earlier, similarly wrapped, for 15-25 minutes every hour or so.
One more instruction -- don’t use heat or cold at all if you do not have normal sensation in the area where you want to apply the pack, or if there’s broken skin or other skin injury to the painful location.
--dr. diane holmes
Copyright © 2014
Heat and cold are very effective pain relievers, and they are cheap and easy to use. They also have effects beyond those of pain relief -- heat increases circulation, cold decreases it and slows pain nerve conduction, and they both relieve muscle spasm -- but to get those therapeutic effects you need to use them at temperature extremes. For heat you need to use something very warm, like a hot water bottle with very hot tap water, and for cold you need to use ice. If, for example, you just use a heating pad or a cold towel, these milder forms of heat and cold will feel good but the other therapeutic effects will be absent. However, if that's all you want, great, and you have the added bonus of being able to generally use either one without regard to the type of condition. But if you want a full therapeutic effect, it's a little more work and a bit more mess, but well worth it -- particularly in the case of using ice on a new injury, which is thought actually may shorten recovery time if used properly.
A good general guideline for the use of ice is to smash it up into pieces as small as you can get them (so that it will mold better to the area of injury), place it in a plastic ziplock bag, wrap it around with a layer or two of thin toweling, then apply for about 15-20 minutes every couple of hours. For heat, use a hot water bottle as described earlier, similarly wrapped, for 15-25 minutes every hour or so.
One more instruction -- don’t use heat or cold at all if you do not have normal sensation in the area where you want to apply the pack, or if there’s broken skin or other skin injury to the painful location.
--dr. diane holmes
Copyright © 2014