When is the best times to use ice, and the best times to use heat? And for how long?
I realize its a simple question, but it probably has a complicated answer
thank you
I apologize for the delay in my response....
PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE USING ANY ICE AND HEAT FOR YOUR INJURY OR CONDITION, WE ONLY OFFER INFORMATION FOR YOU TO DIGEST, WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WITH WHAT YOU DO WITH IT AND HOW YOU CHOSE TO USE IT.
Let us break the answer into two separate cases:
1) When you have first suffered an injury.
2) When you have an ongoing problem/condition (not a sudden injury you are trying to deal with). Before each scenario is dealt with, it is important to understand in any situation to not develop the case of constant pain maldynia, where you feel pain long after the problem has gone away because the nerves in the region becoming compromised. A person’s nervous system plays a role in this as well. To stop this from happening one must disrupt the pain signal for certain periods of time, and decrease its severity. Heat Therapy, using our heat pack
http://http://www.heattreat.ca/aboutthepack.php is an excellent method of stopping maldynia!
Case#1: You have suffered an injury . When you first suffer an injury you are going to have a lot of inflammation in the region. Because heat is going to bring more blood into the region, it is advised you do not apply heat to the injured region until 48 hours AFTER the injury takes place. Apply ice immediately to the injured region. Cold packs/ice is effective in reducing swelling, in addition to helping to numb the pain. Damaged tissue in the injured region suffers fluid leaks from blood vessels, and ice forces the vessels to constrict, which reduces the amount they can ooze/leak. The less the amount of leakage, the less the swelling. It is therefore important time wise to apply ice ASAP after an injuring to reduce swelling/leakage. The cold from applying ice not only eases inflammation, it can reduce muscle spasms. Use ice for about 20 minute intervals, and do not apply more then 5 ice treatments in a day. Wait about 2-4 hours in-between treatments, and if your skin becomes moderately numb, your ice treatment period is over, and you should wait 2-4 hours for another treatment. AFTER the first 48 hour period is over after injury it is best to start using Heat applications. Do not exceed more then five heat treatments in one day. After the first 48 hour period when you are starting to use heat, you can still use ice treatments, they just become not as critical as they are during the first 48 hours after injury.
You should be applying your heat ideally for 25-50 minutes, and waiting 15-20 minutes before applying any ice.
Heat and ice in combination work wonderfully together, one helps to decrease the amount of blood inn the region and the other, heat, then bring a fresh supply of blood into the region. Our bodies naturally bring a fresh supply of blood in and out of the tissues, but ice and heat in combo helps to force and bring out/in more
then without them. If a person is old, injured, or for whatever reason unable to move a lot, and or have poor circulation, an ice heat combo is very important in helping aid circulation, and bring the vital fresh blood with its fresh nutrients into the muscles enabling healing.
CASE # 2) When you have an ongoing problem/condition (not a sudden injury you are trying to deal with).:
Ice and heat are both important. If you have a condition that produces inflammation, ice is obviously important in reducing the swelling as discussed above. Heat brings new blood with its healing nutrients into the region in question. It is possible to just use heat by itself if you are not dealing with an injury because the severe swelling, its inflammation and blood vessel leakage is not the case here. However there is often no harm in using ice in addition to heat as it guarantees blood flow in and out of the region, enabling healing. As above heat times are 25-50 minutes, and ice for about 20 minutes, with a period of 15-20 minutes between the two, and not exceeding 5 applications of each per day.
