Hi guys,
I'm a relatively newly qualified massage therapist and I never know when to advise a client when a cold pack or a heat pack is necessary. Does anyone know the basic rules on when to use a cold pack and when to use a heat pack? :confused:
Hi Fluffy
Hot packs are good for long term injury and general achyness.
Cold packs are useful a first aid technique for very short term injuries to reduce swelling and pain.
Because may background is in oriental therapies, I feel that long term use of cold packs causes stagnation to chi and blood, reducing the effectiveness of healing. Long term use of heat packs stimulates chi, blood and cellular diffusion, therefore increasing the capacity for self-healing.
Hope this is useful
Best Wishes
Reiki Pixie
Temperature Therapy:
Works primarily by increasing vasodilation and vasopermeability; can also affect the pain gate
Heat: Directly stimulates A? sensory nerves, having some effect on the pain gate, mimicking the neural stimulation modalities. Heat also increases the metabolic rate of the tissue, increasing cellular activity, and mimicking the cellular excitation modalities. Furthermore, warming a tissue up, directly leads to increased vasodilation, and vasopermeability, acting as a catalyst for the healing process (at all stages). Heat can also directly increase extensibility of tissue, resulting in relief from muscle spasm, and increased range of motion. Heat will exacerbate any bleeding &/ oedema locally.
Cold: Cold, applied for up to 5 minutes, produces vasoconstriction, which will help to reduce bleeding and oedema in the early stages of the healing process. If applied for more than 5 minutes (but less than 15 minutes), cold produces vasodilation and vasopermeability, which assist the healing process at all stages; however, it will dampen down the activity level of the cells in the area, and thus slow the healing process.
If used little and often (approximately every 10 minutes, applied once every 90 minutes or so), the cold will create vasodilation and vasopermeability, allowing more blood into the area affected; but then, by removing the ice, the bodys own thermoregulation will immediately warm the area, exciting the cells, who can then use the extra blood supply provided by the ice. These vascular effects last longer after ice than they do after heat therapies. If overused (more than 15 minutes, or more frequently than every 60 minutes or so) then the use of cold therapy will slow down the healing process. Ice also has an analgesic effect through stimulation of the A? and A? sensory nerves, combined with the reduced conductivity of the C (nociceptive) sensory fibres (stimulating the A fibres out-competes the reduced conductivity).
As a rule of thumb, use heat for a muscluar problem, use ice for a jointy problem, or during the acute phase.
Quick tip on how to save money on expensive heat and ice packs.
Many a physio and sports therapist uses frozen peas as an ice pack as it moulds nicely around iregular shaped joints. Not unusual in Premiership football.
Hot water bottles last a long time for heat, great for placing heat on an injury at night.
I'd advice against using peasas they don't mold to you properly, and are full of air gaps, so you don't get good conduction of temperature; they also tend to defrost quite quickly, the exact opposite of what you want.
I also don't exactly vost £1.50 as being particularly expensive.
Hi ya BIA
Thanks for your scientific explaination. Makes a lot of sense and expresses better my own PoV.
Cheers
Dave