Using Both Heat And Ice
In some situations, applying both ice and heat to your joint may be helpful. Called contrast therapy, this treatment involves alternating between icing and heating a joint. While this option has traditionally been utilized after exercise or participating in a sporting event to aid in recovery, it may be helpful for more chronic conditions as well. This style of treatment can be performed using hot and cold packs or by alternately submerging the knee in hot and cold water.
While individuals who received contrast therapy subjectively reported less overall soreness and muscular fatigue, the research is still mixed. The current evidence is lacking on whether this treatment is helpful in managing the pain associated with a knee injury or in reducing your inflammation levels.
How To Use Consistent Deep Tissue Stretching To Improve Knee Strength & Health
For many people, the treatment won’t just end there. Stretching is also an important part of tendon healing – and it’s the final stepneeded when healing your knee injury with conservative treatment methods.
You would be suprised by how many people there are that don’t understand the importance of stretching a knee injury. Before returning to full activity after an injury, physical therapists prescribe gentle stretching… This is because stretching is the secret of healing any soft tissue injury. Consistent stretching is one of the only solutions available to break up scar tissue that forms on your knee as it heals.
Stretching with use of a Cold Compress or Ice Pack and TShellz Wrap® is even better!
Types Of Warm Packs Or Pads
Warm towel
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Dampen a towel with warm water.
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Put on the affected area to ease muscle spasm.
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Heating pad
Be sure to protect any type of heating pad device from coming in directcontact with the skin. Precautions should be taken to avoid burns,especially if you have nerve damage, such as from diabetes or other healthproblems.
When muscles work, chemical byproducts are made that need to be eliminated.When exercise is very intense, there may not be enough blood flow toeliminate all the chemicals. It is the buildup of chemicals that cause muscle ache. Because the blood supply helpseliminate these chemicals, use heat to help sore muscles after exercise.
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What You Should Know
Use an ice pack, a frozen towel, or, even a bag of frozen vegetables â peas and corn work great. Keep the ice on up to 20 minutes at a time, using a towel to avoid direct contact between the ice pack and your skin. Let the area get numb, wait and hour and then you can reapply the cold pack, if necessary. Ice should only be used up to three days following injury. After that, you might want to check-in with your doctor.
Ice application to an acute injury is generally safe. To avoid the risks, limit your usage to 20 minutes at a time and avoid using super cold products. Donât let yourself fall prey to frostbite due to prolonged application to fingers, toes, ears, nose. And avoid nerve injury, particularly the ulnar nerve on the inside of your elbow and the peroneal nerve on the outside of your knee.
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Some Facts About Knees:
Approximately 19.4 million visits to physicians’ offices in the US per year are due to knee problems.
The knee is a complex joint with many components, making it vulnerable to a variety of injuries.
Oral medications can mask the pain but do not aid in the healing of knee injuries.
Most knee injuries can be successfully treated without surgery.
Sadly, regardless of treatment, ACL injuries in high-school youths are associated with a 10-fold increased risk for degenerative knee arthritis later in life.
MendmyKnee is an FDA registered company.
Every year, at least 1 in 3000 Americans between ages 14 and 55 tear an anterior cruciate ligament .
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Icing Or Heating Joints Can Provide Pain Relief And Reduce Swelling But Knowing Whether To Go Cold Or Hot And Knowing How To Use Each Form Of Thermal Therapy Can Be Tricky
Sometimes old-fashioned home remedies are just what the doctor ordered. Take using ice or heat for joint pain, for example. When your knee or your shoulder feels stiff, sore, or has a burning sensation, cooling down or warming up the affected area can help provide relief.
Its more of symptomatic relief, says Nilanjana Bose, MD, a board-certified rheumatologist with the Rheumatology Center of Houston. The pain may remain but because gives symptomatic relief, over time that will help, in conjunction with other medicines, heal the area.
But knowing when to use ice and when to use heat for pain relief can be confusing, especially if youre dealing with an ache or issue that youve never dealt with before. Although you should see a health care provider if youre experiencing consistent pain, its helpful to know what treatments can help provide immediate relief, especially if you arent able to see your doctor right away.
So, the question remains: when should you use ice versus heat to ease joint pain? Well, it mostly depends on the cause and type of joint pain youre experiencing, though personal preferences matter, too. After all, nobody knows your own body like you do.
Below, we provide information on when to use heat or ice for joint pain relief, as well as some tips to make your treatment more effective.
So Do You Use Heat Or Ice For Knee Pain
The answer to this question depends on the main problem you have, as well as the location of the pain around your knee.
The first question to ask yourself is this: Is my main problem PAIN or STIFFNESS?
The second question is: Is my main problem area my MUSCLES or my JOINT?
Lets talk about each scenario one by one
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How To Use Heat
You can administer heat therapy in two different forms: dry heat or moist heat. Dry heat is the kind that comes from heating pads or saunas, while moist heat comes from sources like steam towels or a hot bath or shower. Typically, when youre using either form of heat therapy, youll only apply it to the specific part of your body that is in pain. The exception to this, obviously, is a hot shower or sauna, which tend to target your whole body. Of the two options, moist heat works faster, which means you wont have to apply it as long as you would a dry heat. However, it can be messier, so it may not always be the best option.
As an aside, there are many different kinds of heating pads out there. If you opt to use an electric one, just make sure you dont fall asleep while its on, or select one that has an automatic shutoff feature instead of remaining on until you switch it off.
How To Apply Cold Therapy
Is Ice or Heat Better After Knee Replacement Surgery?Cold treatments are most effective when applied to the back of the pelvis where your sciatic nerve is located. Cold therapy can be practiced using ice packs, frozen gel packs, or even frozen vegetable bags. These treatments should be used three times a day for 15 to 20 minutes.
Patients with wide areas of pain, such as the back, find ice massage to be especially beneficial. Ice massage can be done at home. Simply freeze water in a paper cup, then cut off the top half of the cup to uncover the ice. Next, have a partner rub the ice in circular motions on painful areas for a few minutes or until it becomes numb.
After a few days, a majority of your pain and inflammation should subside and you can begin heat treatment.
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What Ice And Heat Are Not For
Both ice and heat have the potential to do some minor, temporary harm when used poorly. Heat can make inflammation significantly worse. Ice can aggravate symptoms of tightness and stiffness it can also just make any pain worse when its unwanted.
Both ice and heat are pointless or worse when unwanted: icing when youre already shivering, or heating when youre already sweating. The brain may interpret an excess of either one as a threat, but icing is more threatening and when brains think theres a threat, they may also amp up the pain.5 Ice seems to be feel more threatening to most people.
Be especially wary of icing muscle pain and it may not be obvious. You may think your back is injured, for instance, but it may just be muscle pain. Trigger points can be surprisingly intense and easily mistaken for iceable injury and inflammation. But if you ice trigger points, they may burn and ache even more acutely. This mistake is made particularly often with low back pain and neck pain the very conditions people often try to treat with ice.
Heat and inflammation are the other particularly bad combination. If you add heat to a fresh injury, watch out: its going to get worse! A physician once told my father to heat a freshly injured knee, and wow it swelled up like a balloon, three times bigger than it had been before. And three times more painful.6
Why Does Sciatica Pain Get Worse At Night
An unhealthy sleeping position or unsupportive bed can exert excess pressure on your lower back, further compressing the nerve roots. To avoid this, try sleeping on your back with pillows beneath your knees. This position will prevent pain by properly distributing body weight and optimizing spinal alignment.
If you suffer from chronic sciatica, consider investing in a mattress for back pain. Some beds are specifically constructed to prevent and relieve such pain, offering purposeful support and options fit for your particular sleeping position and body type.
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Can You Stop Gout
It ought to be fairly apparent why youd need to get gone gout, but is it possible truly?
Sure is usually, but theres not a one-size matches all solution.
In the next section, well come to be going over whats worked best for us!
You wont want to lose out on this free video clip.
NOTICE: Id highly recommend going to your doctor or seeing a specialist about this situation, since we arent experts. See our medical disclaimer for more details.
We dont know what will work for you, but we know whats worked for us and others
How To Use Consistent Deep Tissue Stretching For Improved Knee Flexibility & Health
For most people, an essential part of rehabilitation comes down to stretching – this is why physical therapy is such an important component for recovery. Stretching is also an important part of recovery from a meniscus tear – and it’s the final step needed when healing your knee injury via conservative treatment methods.
You would be surprised by how many people there are that don’t understand the importance of stretching their knee joint during the latter stages of recovery from a meniscus tear. Before returning to full activity after an injury, physical therapists prescribe gentle stretching… This is because stretching is a major component when it comes to healing soft tissue. Consistent stretching is one of the only solutions available to break up scar tissue that forms around your meniscus as it heals.
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How Does Heat And Ice Affect The Body
Heat and ice both work using the same mechanism by changing the amount of blood flow to the affected area, but with opposite results. When ice is applied to tissue, the blood vessels in that area will get smaller. This is called vasoconstriction and decreases the amount of blood that can reach the tissue. When heat is applied, the blood vessels in that area will get wider. This is called vasodilation and will increase the amount of blood that can reach the tissue. Therefore, when you are trying to choose between heat or ice, all you need to do is figure out whether you want more or less blood flow to your affected area.
When Should You Use A Tshellz Wrap To Increase Blood Flow To Your Meniscus
Heat temperature treatments work best to increase blood flow circulation and stimulate healing for soft tissue injuries, re-injuries, and during long-term post surgery recovery – once inflammation has been reduced.
HEAT is used after you’ve reduced your swelling / inflammation and the sharp pain is less intense . Warming up your tissue is a natural way to stimulate the body’s healing response. Increasing the temperature of tissue will result in increased blood flow circulation. It’s the blood in your body that will bring oxygen, nutrients and water to your damaged meniscus to help with healing .
It’s no secret that meniscus tears don’t receive enough natural blood flow, especially if the tear is located near the center of your knee joint – in which case there is very little chance to heal it other than through surgery. However, for meniscus tears near the outer edge, enhancing blood flow might turn the tide, and this is what makes boosting natural blood flow all the more important in such cases.
If you have a chronic meniscus tear that keeps getting re-injured you should use heat before activity to loosen up the soft tissue in your knee, making it more flexible.. When used at this time the warm temperatures naturally extend the elasticity of the soft tissue in your knee, making it more movable / pliable for activity.
Doctors usually call this process ‘Vasodilation’.
Heat (via the Knee TShellz Wrap® is Typically Recommended for Use:
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How Do You Use Heat / Warm Temperatures To Help Heal Your Knee
HEAT is used after you’ve reduced your swelling / inflammation and the sharp pain is less intense . Warming up your tissue is a natural way to encourage healing of soft tissue. Increasing the temperature in soft tissue will result in increased blood flow circulation. It’s the blood in your body that will bring oxygen, nutrients and water to your injured knee to help with healing.
Heat can Make Inflammation, Swelling and Newer Injuries Worse – How?
When we injure ourselves, we start healing right away. The body will naturally raise the temperature at the site of the injury resulting in the inflammatory response . This ‘fake fever’ leaks blood flow to the area to cool it down and start the healing process.
Adding ‘heat’ to the injured tissue in your knee when it’s already inflamed and tender may make your body think there’s a new threat to your tissue and increase the pain in order to get you to stop. For some people applying heat on inflamed / swollen tissue will cause the injury to swell-up even more . You’ll feel even more pain as the pressure builds in your knee.
Heat is NOT a good treatment method for inflamed soft tissue injuries, new injuries , right after surgery or right after a re-injury . In these cases, heat should be applied later on in the healing cycle. In the meantime, cold compression with a Cold Compress or Ice Pack should be used to decrease any inflammation induced pain.
When Should You Use Heat to Heal Your Knee?
With regular use of the Knee TShellz Wrap:
When To Use Heat Therapy:
Is Ice or Heat Better to Remove Your Pain? — Dr Mandell- If you are experiencing joint or muscle pain or stiffness.
- Minor stiffness or tension can often be relieved with only 15 to 20 minutes of heat therapy.
- Moderate to severe pain can benefit from longer sessions of heat therapy like warm bath, lasting between 30 minutes and two hours.
- Local therapy is best for small areas of pain, like one stiff muscle. You could use small heated gel packs or a hot water bottle if you only want to treat an injury locally.
- Regional treatment is best for more widespread pain or stiffness, and could be achieved with a steamed towel, large heating pad, or heat wraps.
- Full body treatment would include options like saunas or a hot bath.
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How Often Should I Use Heat Or Cold Therapy For Arthritis Pain
Try to use moist heat or ice packs at least twice a day for the best relief from pain and stiffness.
According to the American College of Rheumatology, five to 10-minute ice massages applied to a painful area within the first 48 hours of pain onset can provide relief. So can heat, which relaxes the muscles. Heat should be used for pain that lasts longer than 48 hours.
Ice Or Heat: Which Is Best For A Swollen Knee
by The ViscoGen Team | Jul 23, 2019 | knee |
Knee pain is one of the most common and debilitating joint issues, affecting millions of people on a daily basis. Whether the pain is caused by an acute injury like a tear or overuse, or its the result of too much weight or regular wear and tear, there are a number of structures in the knee joint itself that can be the source of the pain. Weve all heard of icing for pain, but sometimes, heat is a much better source of relief. When it comes to painful, swollen knee treatments, which is best, ice or heat?
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Cold Therapy For Joint Pain
When arthritis pain causes a sensation of burning, cool it off with cold applying an ice pack or even a bag of frozen vegetables can help to numb areas affected by joint pain. Cold therapy can reduce inflammation, a major cause of arthritis joint pain and stiffness. Placing a cold pack on a swollen joint can also help bring it back down to size, which will also lessen joint pain.
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