When To Use Hot & Cold Therapy Products

1. When To Use Hot & Cold Therapy Products Recovering and rehabilitating from an accident requires the correct course of therapy. Adopting a course that does not help you recover from your injury doesn’t make a sense. So, the logical move will be to create a recovery plan with your doctor or physical therapist to help you heal your condition as soon as possible. The use of hot and cold therapy to help in the recovery process is one of the cornerstones of rehab therapy. So, it is good to take advice from experts before using hot and cold therapy products. Here in this post, I am going to discuss what exactly does hot and cold therapy do and when to usehot cold therapy products. What exactly does hot and cold therapy do? Hot therapy: Hot treatment expands blood vessels to increase blood flow to the region affected. It increases the supply of oxygen and nutrients, and as well as decreases the buildup of fluid in tissues that facilitates healing, resulting in lower joint pain. It will also help to relax sore muscles, ligaments, and tendons, resulting in reduced muscle pain, and increased range of motion. Vesalius Health

2. Cold therapy: Cold treatment slows down the flow of blood to an injury by contracting muscles, resulting in decreased swelling and pain. Ice application delays nerve impulses in the region that disrupt nerve-spasm reaction. This also helps with pain by observing an analgesic effect by decreasing the skin temperature. After removal of the cold source, the veins over, balance by expanding and allowing blood to enter the region affected. This blood infusion transmits nutrients that are required to help repair damaged muscles, ligaments, or tendons. An additional advantage of cold therapy is that it prevents damage to tissue if done correctly. When to use hot therapy products? If you suffer from chronic conditions such as stiff joints or constant muscle and joint pain, heat therapy products should be applied. Also, it is effective in treating trigger points. A trigger point is a small patch of muscle tissue that has a contract or is Vesalius Health

3. static. Instead of the entire muscle being in spasm, it's just a little bit of it and heat therapy will more specifically tackle those issues. Conditions that can benefit from heat therapy include joint pain, arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, muscle spasms, muscle pain, nerve pain, sprains, inflammation and covering of tendons, and whiplash injury. When to use cold therapy products? Cold therapy products are ideally adapted for recent painful, swollen and inflamed injury. You can use this therapy product to avoid tissue damage during the first 24- 48 hours following the injury. If the muscle injury causes discomfort, it should be handled immediately with the RICE method i.e. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Cold products are ideally suited to sprains, strains, bumps, fractures, lifting injuries or bruises and can be used to minimize discomfort and swelling after the workout. Ice packs are especially well suited to joint pain caused by arthritis flare. After exercise, you can also try using a spray or gel-like Biofreeze (R) on your back or a hurting area. This gentle cooling eliminates muscle spasms and heightens pain tolerance. It’s recommended that not to use the cold pack before exercise. Conclusion: Hot and cold therapy products are one of the simplest and cheapest ways to deal with muscle problems, fractures, and joint issues. Understanding when to use which form of therapy will help you heal quicker, thus avoiding a worsening injury. The general rule says to use heat products for chronic pain and cold products for acute pain. This content was published at: https://blog.ideafit.com/blogs/kevins/when-to- use-hot-cold-therapy-products Vesalius Health