- Ice and heat therapy can both be effective treatment options for muscle aches and pains.
- Generally, ice is better for acute or newer injuries, while heat is better for chronic or long-term pain.
- If your symptoms don’t improve with ice or heat therapy after a certain amount of time, discontinue use and talk to your healthcare provider.
Should you heat or ice a muscle injury?
Rules to remember: If an injury has occurred to any body part within three days, ice is preferred -- 20 minutes on and 30 to 40 minutes off. Pain to the back, neck and large muscle groups like quads, hamstrings and calves will respond well to heat after three days of injury. Use ice for pain in joints such as knees, elbows and shoulders.
Should you use ice or heat therapy for arthritis pain?
Both ice and heat therapy may decrease the transmission of pain signals to the brain, which can also help with pain relief. Keep in mind there are no hard-and-fast rules about when to use ice or heat therapy for arthritis-related pain.
Does heat help with muscle spasms?
Heat therapy increases blood flow and this improved circulation may help with muscular spasms throughout the body. Massage and stretching may also alleviate pain and discomfort associated with a spasmodic muscle. Should I use ice or heat for neck pain?
Should I use heat or ice for stiff neck muscles?
Many patients ask whether or not to use heat or ice for stiff neck muscles. Neck pain associated with chronic pain, general muscle soreness, or stiffness should be treated with heat therapy.
Which is better for muscles heat or ice?
Ice wins to shut down swelling, inflammation and pain early on where heat may actually make an injury worse.” If you're dealing with lingering injuries (older than 6 weeks) then it's okay to use heat. The increased blood flow relaxes tight muscles and relieves aching joints.
Is ice or heat better for muscle and nerve pain?
Nerve Pain It's best to use cold when the pain is still sharp and move on to heat once that sharpness has subsided. The heat will increase blood flow and help tissues heal faster.
What is best for muscle pain?
Rest and elevate the painful area. Alternate between ice packs to reduce inflammation and heat to improve blood flow. Soak in a warm bath with Epsom salts or take a warm shower. Take over-the-counter pain relievers (aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen).
What helps sore muscles fast?
To help relieve muscle soreness, try:Gentle stretching.Muscle massage.Rest.Ice to help reduce inflammation.Heat to help increase blood flow to your muscles. ... Over-the-counter (OTC) pain medicine, such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like ibuprofen (brand name: Advil).More items...•
A Quick Guide That Explains When to Ice, When to Heat, When Not to, and Why
1. see also 2. Ice vs Heat 3. Ice 4. Heat 5. Depth 6. Contrasting 7. Ice & Back Pain 8. BathsThere is soooo much confusion about this issue. It’s a...
What Ice and Heat Are For
Ice is for fresh injuries, and heat is for stiff, aching muscles. Roughly. But the devil is in the details, and there are a lot of them.Ice is for...
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 agg...
What About Injured Muscle? Muscle Strains?
If you’re supposed to ice injuries, but not muscle pain, then what do you with injured muscles (a muscle tear or muscle strain)? That can be a toug...
Is Ice Better Than Heat? Is Heat Better Than Ice?
Ideal uses of ice and heat are roughly equal in potency — which isn’t very potent. Neither is strong medicine. Some experiments have shown that bot...
much, Much More Hot and Cold Information
Other closely related topics: 1. PS Contrast Hydrotherapy — “Exercising” tissues with quick changes in temperature, to help with pain and injury re...
How long does it take to apply ice and heat?
How to safely apply ice and heat. You can apply ice and heat in lots of ways. Our experts generally recommend up to 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off: Ice packs: Frozen peas or corn, ice cubes in a baggie or frozen gel pack. You can ice beyond 48 hours, until swelling, tenderness or inflammation are gone.
When to use ice for a bruise?
When dealing with injuries, it’s best to predominantly choose ice if the injury is acute (less than 6 weeks old). The chill constricts blood vessels which numbs pain, relieves inflammation and limits bruising. “If you’re sensitive to cold then ice may initially seem uncomfortable or even painful to apply.
How to get rid of a sprained ankle?
Whether you’ve pulled a muscle in your calf or back doing yardwork or sprained your ankle playing basketball, it’s best to start either off with ice to ease inflammation (including swelling, redness or tenderness of the injury) and numb the pain.
How long can you ice a swollen elbow?
You can ice beyond 48 hours, until swelling, tenderness or inflammation are gone. Ice massage: Freeze water in a Dixie cup, peel back the top, and massage the tender area until it’s numb. (Best for targeted icing after injury or for areas too awkward for ice packs, like the elbow or heel).
How to improve range of motion in joints?
This is especially helpful to improve range of motion on a joint that maybe isn’t moving as well. Use heat before stretching or doing a home exercise program.
How to avoid burns on neck?
Heat wraps: Drape a heat wrap, available at drugstores, around your neck like a scarf (great for work or travel). Heating pads: To avoid burns, remove heating pads if the area becomes uncomfortably warm.
How to help headaches?
While ice is usually preferred for headaches, moist heat or a heat wrap can relax neck spasms that contribute to headaches.
Common Aches, Pains, And Soft Tissue Injuries
Whether the result of a slip around the house or a misstep on the playing field, many of us have experienced a painful sprain or two. A sprain is a common sports injury that generally occurs in the wrists, knees, and ankles. Throughout the human body, tissues known as ligaments support joints by connecting bones to other bones.
How To Treat A Sprain, Strain, And Stiffness -- When To Use Ice Or Heat?
Knowing exactly when to use heat or ice can shorten recovery time and help with chronic aches, pains, and stiffness. Treating an injury can be tricky and not all sports injuries or conditions will require strictly ice or heat therapy. In some cases, both ice therapy and heat therapy can play a crucial role in the rehabilitation process.
How To Perform Ice Therapy
Ice therapy is typically used for shorter periods of time than heat therapy. Effective cold therapy involves multiple daily treatments, up to 20 minutes at a time. Remember, icing a sprained ankle, strain, or any injury for longer than 20 minutes at a time is not recommended.
How To Perform Heat Therapy
There are many products on the market that penetrate deep tissues for effective heat treatment. Whether dry heat or moist heat may be more appropriate depends on the condition. A heating pad is an example of a dry heat source, whereas a warm bath is a popular moist heat therapy.
Frequently Asked Questions: When Do You Ice And When Do You Heat?
Determining when to use ice or heat therapy can be complicated. To assist, we’ve answered below some of the most frequently asked questions about when to ice and when to heat acute injuries and chronic conditions.
Sports Medicine Oregon -- Acute Injury And Chronic Pain Specialists
The RICE method, ice therapy, and heat therapy may relieve pain and discomfort associated with many common aches and pains, but more severe injuries and chronic conditions will require medical intervention.
When Ice Should Be Used
Ankle sprains, acute or chronic pain, acute or subacute inflammation, bursitis, muscle spasms, abnormal tone, tendonitis, musculoskeletal trauma, myofascial trigger, tenosynovitis.
How Applying Ice Works for an Injury
Ice helps decrease the local temperature of the tissue, which results in decreased blood flow, edema, and muscle tone. It is also shown to slow metabolic rate and nerve conduction velocity. It can also help increase the body’s pain threshold. Ice should be applied for 15-20 minutes at a time.
When Heat Should Be Used
Subacute or chronic inflammatory conditions like neck or back pain, abnormal tone, decreased range of motion, muscle guarding, muscle spasms, myofascial trigger points, subacute or chronic pain,
How Applying Heat Works for an Injury
Heat helps increase local temperature to the injured tissue resulting in the following:
What is ice and heat?
What ice and heat are for. Ice is for fresh injuries, and heat is for stiff, aching muscles. Roughly. But the devil is in the details, and there are a lot of them.
Can ice cause burns?
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.
Can you use ice to heal a torn muscle?
A true muscle injury usually involves obvious trauma during intense effort, causing severe pain suddenly. If the muscle is truly torn, then use ice to take the edge off the inflammation at first.
Does cooling cause pain?
If the brain thinks there’s trouble, pain ramps up. Unwanted cooling can increase the brain’s concern, and thus pain. See Pain is Weird. ⤻ That is a rare example of a particularly severe negative reaction to heat.
Does heat make you feel worse?
Heat can make inflammation significantly worse. Ice can aggravate symptoms of tightness and stiffness; it can also just make any pain worse when it’s unwanted. Both ice and heat are pointless or worse when unwanted: icing when you’re already shivering, or heating when you’re already sweating.
Why is ice used for back pain?
It may be less helpful for back pain, possibly because the injury is not new, or because the problem tissue, if it is inflamed, lies deep beneath other tissues and far from the cold press.
How to treat a cold injury?
For cold therapy, or cryotherapy, a water bottle filled with cold water, a pad cooled in the freezer, or cool water can be used. In some cases, alternating heat and cold may help, as it will greatly increase blood flow to the injury site.
How to help aching muscles?
Heat and cold therapy are often recommended to help relieve an aching pain that results from muscle or joint damage. Basic heat therapy, or thermotherapy can involve the use of a hot water bottle, pads that can be heated in a microwave, or a warm bath. For cold therapy, or cryotherapy, a water bottle filled with cold water, ...
How long does cold therapy last?
Some ways of using cold therapy include: a cold compress or a chemical cold pack applied to the inflamed area for 20 minutes, every 4 to 6 hours, for 3 days. Cold compresses are available for purchase online. immersion or soaking in cold, but not freezing, water.
How to avoid ice burn?
immersion or soaking in cold, but not freezing, water. massaging the area with an ice cube or an ice pack in a circular motion from two to five times a day, for a maximum of 5 minutes, to avoid an ice burn. In the case of an ice massage, ice can be applied directly to the skin, because it does not stay in one place.
Does cold medicine help with swelling?
Cold treatment reduces blood flow to an injured area. This slows the rate of inflammation and reduces the risk of swelling and tissue damage. It also numbs sore tissues, acting as a local anesthetic, and slows down the pain messages being transmitted to the brain.
Does heat help with headaches?
relieving pain or spasms relating to neck or back injury, including the lower back. Applied to the neck, heat may reduce the spasms that lead to headaches. In 2006, a team of researchers found.
When to use ice?
When To Ice It. As a general rule of thumb, ice should only be used for acute injuries, acute pain, or new injuries. Because an acute injury causes inflammation and swelling, ice the best to dull the pain associated with those reactions.
How long does heat therapy last?
Heat therapy can be used for a longer period of time than ice but is often effective within 15 to 20 minutes. You should not use heat if there are any indications of swelling and inflammation, as heat can worsen these conditions.
Why is it important to use ice?
This is why it’s so important to use them properly so as to get the reaction necessary for pain relief and inflammation reduction. Inflammation, pressure, and swelling are some of the reasons why pain can be so hard to manage when it comes to an injury. Ice helps reduce inflammation and numb pain, whereas heat helps relax muscles and stiff joints.
Why do we use heat?
When To Use Heat. In general, you should use heat to relax stiff muscles and joints. It is especially beneficial for soothing chronic pain, such as back and neck pain. It also helps relieve stress and tension, which could be causing the stiffness and chronic pain.
What is the best treatment for pain?
Also known as cryotherapy and thermotherapy, both of these therapies are excellent ways to reduce inflammation and pressure and help reduce pain. In order for these therapies to work, however, they must be used appropriately.
What is a full therapy program?
A full therapy program includes strengthening muscles, diagnosing the underlying cause, and working to fix the cause through either habitual change or change in movement and training. A physical therapist will often use heat and/or ice as part of their overall therapy strategy, depending on the individual’s condition.
Does ice help with pain?
Although ice can help in reducing inflammation, swelling, and pain, there are some minor problems associated with ice if used improperly. If you ice for too long, you can cause your joints in the affected area to feel tighter and stiffer, increasing pain instead of relieving it.
How long should I ice my back?
If an injury has occurred to any body part within three days, ice is preferred -- 20 minutes on and 30 to 40 minutes off. Pain to the back, neck and large muscle groups like quads, hamstrings and calves will respond well to heat after three days of injury. Use ice for pain in joints such as knees, elbows and shoulders.
How to avoid burning skin from ice?
Some people have cold allergies, which cause ice to burn the skin. Put at least a thin towel between the ice and skin to avoid burned skin.
What is inflammation and pain?
What is Inflammation? Inflammation and pain is the body’s natural reaction to an injury. As much as it might hurt, swollen and inflamed tissue contains the components of healing that your body uses to repair itself after an injury. When an area on your body is inflamed, fluid (“water on a joint”) and/or irritation cause pressure in the area.
How long does it take for icing to cause vasodilation?
Greater than 20 minutes of icing can cause reactive vasodilation, or widening, of the vessels as the body tries to make sure the tissues get the blood supply they need. Studies have also shown 30 to 40 minutes in between icing sessions are needed to counter this reaction.
How to treat inflammation in orthopedics?
Depending on the nature and severity of the injury, in orthopedics, we treat inflammation using anti-inflammatory medication, elevation of injury, massage, cortisone injections, compression and rest.
Why do you need to ice a wound?
Constricting blood vessels inhibits the body from allowing inflammation in the iced area. Heat dilates, or widens blood vessels, allowing more inflammation to flow to an injured or painful area. As a general rule of thumb, ice should be used if you have recently injured an area or had surgery or a procedure.
How long does it take for ice to burn?
Ice is definitely not as comfortable as heat, and ice will sometimes ache or burn for the first five to seven minutes of the 20-minute session.
