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Ice or Heat – What’s a Back to Use?
If you’re trying to answer the question about using ice or heat for a pain in your back, you’ll need to know what is causing the pain. It is important to know because the wrong type of treatment can cause more damage and pain in your back. Learn what to do, and how to do it, when treating painful backaches.
A word of caution needs to be stated about back pain when you have any type of systemic inflammatory disease such as Scleroderma or Lupus. These two types of arthritic diseases are serious, and any inflammatory pain needs to be evaluated by your specialist or general practitioner. Your doctor will want to look for a worsening of the disease, and any medications such as steroids could be increased, or another new medication could be added to help you fight systemic pain. On the other hand, if you’ve never been diagnosed with either of these diseases, and have chronic pain, it would be good to be evaluated by a specialist.
In trying to decide on using ice or heat for your back pain, due to an acute or chronic pain, look at the symptoms first. Pain from an acute injury will most always be accompanied by tenderness, swelling and inflammation, within 24 or 48 hours of an accident. Any type of fall or hit whether it’s from a typical type of accident, like falling from a ladder, or straining a muscle from a rough game of football, can cause muscle damage to your back. This type of injury is acute, but there are chronic injuries as well. These types of injuries are usually found with athletes, which are left untreated or not treated properly. If you engage in sports on a semi-professional level, make sure you know how to treat injuries, or they could become chronic conditions of pain.
For your acute pain related to injury, the best treatment is to apply ice to the back. Cold packs can be bought on the market that be applied to your injury that conforms to the body. Don’t apply an ice product that can slip off, or dig into the skin. Deep bruising and surface cuts hurt and damage to the nerves in the back will occur because of the compression of them. Never attempt to attach a cold compress by any means such as Velcro or an elastic band to hold a compress tighter to your skin. Circulation can be cut off which will delay healing to your back, and in the end cause more pain to the area. Remember, conformity to the body by purchasing a correct ice compress is the best. If you find yourself in a jam, you can always use a frozen bag of vegetables, such as peas, until you can purchase an ice bag, or compress for your injury.
Ice pack therapy is good for your acute injury because it reduces swelling to the injury. Cold packs when you apply them will limit the blood supply to the area by narrowing the surface blood vessels in the skin. Don’t leave ice on an acute injury for more than fifteen minutes at a time. Skin can become frost bitten, and you’ll not be able to tell if the ice pack has warmed to the point of ineffectiveness too. Always allow the skin to return to your normal body temperature and reapply the ice as needed. For chronic injury, you can ice down as needed after exercise or work, but always use the proper reapplication process for acute injury. Don’t ever use an ice compress before strenuous activity because your muscles will constrict along with the blood vessels and an acute re-injury will occur.
Heat therapy for injuries is best for either an acute or chronic condition of pain in the back. Don’t use heat therapy for either condition if there’s muscle inflammation. Any type of heat increases blood circulation, and it helps un-tense muscles and provides relief for pain. Muscle spasms are relaxed too because of increased blood flow to them. As with ice you can apply several times per day, but only at 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Always watch for excessive heat to your skin because of blisters. Use a towel or rag between your skin and the heating source for protection. A moist hot towel can be applied for relief of back pain, but don’t apply it with any electrical heating source because of electrical shock. Heat compresses can be purchased which is a safe way to provide relief for pain.
Remember, know what type of injury you have, and you will find the best treatment. If your injury doesn’t improve within 48 hours seek medical help. Be safe with treatment, and your back will thank you for it.
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