Ice or Heat? What's best for your pain.
Clients frequently ask which is better for their situation. Today I'd like to give you some guidelines. First we need to clarify acute pain versus chronic pain. Acute pain is rapid onset and short lived. It's usually a sharp traumatic injury that often causes severe pain. Usually acute injuries result from impact, or trauma such as a sprain, fall or collision and it's pretty obvious what caused the injury. Symptoms include pain, tenderness, inflammation and swelling. If you have swelling you have an acute injury. Chronic pain develops slowly and is persistent and long lasting. It sometimes comes and goes and cause dull pain or soreness. It is often a result of overuse, but sometimes develops when an acute injury is not properly treated and doesn't heal.
Cold Therapy
Cold therapy with ice is best for immediate treatment for acute injuries because it reduces swelling and pain. Ice is a vaso constrictor (it causes the blood vessels to narrow) and it limits internal bleeding at the injury site. To ice an injury, wrap ice in a thin towel and place it on the affected area for 10 minutes at a time. Allow the skin temperature to return to normal before icing a second or third time. You can ice an acute injury several times a day for up to three days.
Cold therapy is also helpful in treating some overuse injuries or chronic pain in athletes. An athlete who has chronic knee pain that increases after running may want to ice the injured area
after each run to reduce or prevent inflammation.The best way to ice an injury is with a high quality ice pack that conforms to the body part being iced. You can also get good results from a bag of frozen peas, an ice massage with water frozen in a paper cup (peel the cup down as the ice melts) or a bag of ice.
Heat Therapy
Heat is generally used for chronic injuries or injuries that have no inflammation or swelling. Sore, stiff, nagging muscle or joint pain is ideal for the use of heat therapy. Athletes with chronic pain or injuries may use heat therapy
before exercise to increase the elasticity of joint connective tissues and to stimulate blood flow. Heat can also help relax tight muscles or muscle spasms. Don't apply heat after exercise. After a workout, ice is the better choice on a chronic injury.
Because heat increases circulation and raises skin temperature, you should not apply heat to acute injuries or injuries that show signs of inflammation. Safely apply heat to an injury 15 to 20 minutes at a time and use enough layers between your skin and the heating source to prevent burns. Moist heat is best, so you could try using a hot wet towel. You can buy special athletic hot packs or heating pads if you use heat often. Never leave heating pads on for more than 20 minutes at a time or while sleeping.
Because some injuries can be serious, you should see your doctor if your injury does not improve (or gets worse) within 48 hours
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) has been in the news a lot lately. It is a wonderful self help tool that can help clients deal with pain and a variety of emotional issues. Below I have provided an easy to use introduction. Please read, explore, and call if you have any questions.
EFT is a
powerful self-help method based on research showing that
emotional trauma contributes greatly to disease. Clinical trials have shown that EFT is able to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. Once the distress is reduced or removed, the body can often rebalance itself, and accelerate healing. Here's how you can experience this for yourself:
- Try EFT yourself by downloading a free starter package which includes starter manual @www.eftuniverse.com, It gives you all the basics and allows you to test drive EFT on your own issues (although at a beginner's level). If you like what you see and want to learn more or try a session give me a call. You will also find clear and simple instructions in the EFT book series. Caveat: For people who are emotionally or physically frail, qualified health professionals should be consulted before using any health procedure, including EFT.
- Read some of the many studies and papers on EFT that have been published in peer-reviewed psychology and medical journals, summarized in the EFT Research section. They demonstrate the wide variety of conditions which EFT has been shown to improve, and ranks EFT studies using the "evidence-based" standards of the American Psychological Association's Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) Task Force.
- Read the exhaustive list of actual cases on the website. These are written by clients, therapists and physicians and allow you to see EFTs possibilities through the eyes of both newcomers and professionals. Note the wide variety of successes. This is why we encourage you to, "Try it on everything."
No comments:
Post a Comment