Click here for more informationWhen to use ice or heat
Mark Perren-Jones from The Haven Spa and Health Clinic
This is probably the most asked question in the clinic. So many of my clients are still confused when they should be using ice on an injury or heat. It’s very important to know the difference because you could very easily make your condition worse and increase your pain, swelling and the length of time it takes to heal.
The answer lies in the type of injury that you have sustained.
An acute injury results from a direct blow, a twisting or tearing motion or a fall and is immediately painful. When this occurs you will need to control the amount of tissue bleeding, inflammation/swelling and pain. Therefore you should use ice to cool the tissues down to cause vasoconstriction of the blood vessels as soon as possible. This means putting ice for about 10-15 mins on the affected area and the best way to do this is to put the ice in a plastic bag, wrap it in a towel to avoid ice burn and repeat every 2 hours.
Then in about 3-5days after the injury has occurred and there are no more signs of inflammation you could use alternating hold and cold packs. Place the ice pack on for 10 minutes and then place the heat pack on immediately after. This will cause an increase in blood flow to the damaged area to provide nutrients to help heal the damaged tissues.
A chronic injury does not present with a sudden onset. It usually comes on slowly over the space of a few days or even weeks. It is normally caused by overuse or biomechanical abnormality or by an acute injury that did not heal properly and has become a chronic problem.
On injuries such as these you should use heat for 15-20minutes. You may use hot water bottles wrapped in a towel( to help prevent burns ), warm damp towels, liniments, heat rubs or you can even buy heat packs to be put in the microwave that are reusable. The heat will relax tight muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints and ease pain.
And there you have it!
