Forsyth County – Alpharetta Chiropractor And Back Pain Doctor Comments:
I get asked this question all the time. Hey, doc, do I use heat or ice? The rule of thumb is to always use ice.
My recommendation is to use ice when you have a sudden onset of pain. What would you do if you smashed your thumb with a hammer... and it swells up. You would obviously put ice on your thumb! So the same is true if you twist your knee or ankle or you do something to hurt or agravate your back or neck.
Ice for how long? You want to ice the back for 20 minutes and the neck for only 10 minutes because it's a smaller area. You never want to ice the area longer than that because the reverse will happen. There's a built in reflex in the body... simular to when your ear lobe gets hot and red when your out in the cold weather too long in order to prevent frost bite! Remember, the purpose of ice is to constrict - to bring the swelling and inflammation down. You want to use ice at first - usually for the first two to three days after an injury or agravation.
Heat? Heat is good for chronic pain and arthritis that's been around for a long time. The best application of heat is to use a "moist" or "wet" form of heat. Don't use an electrical "dry" heating pad... it doesn't penetrate too deep and might make your problem worse. I recommend heating up a interchangable heat-ice pack in the microwave or a "rice" roll in the microwave...or a hot water bottle. Anything besides a heating pad that plugs into the wall!
Usually a muscle problem will go away after a day or two and NOT come back. But, if the back, neck or joint pain returns, lingers on, shoots down your leg or arm, becomes tingling or numb... that's when you need to get it checked out to determine if it's a disc problem or pinched nerve.
If you need help, please contact my office at 770-777-0900 and make an appointment. My website is http://www.painreliefcare.com.
My office hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 2:00 - 7:00 and Tuesday and Thursday between 10:00am to 1:00pm.
I get asked this question all the time. Hey, doc, do I use heat or ice? The rule of thumb is to always use ice.
My recommendation is to use ice when you have a sudden onset of pain. What would you do if you smashed your thumb with a hammer... and it swells up. You would obviously put ice on your thumb! So the same is true if you twist your knee or ankle or you do something to hurt or agravate your back or neck.
Ice for how long? You want to ice the back for 20 minutes and the neck for only 10 minutes because it's a smaller area. You never want to ice the area longer than that because the reverse will happen. There's a built in reflex in the body... simular to when your ear lobe gets hot and red when your out in the cold weather too long in order to prevent frost bite! Remember, the purpose of ice is to constrict - to bring the swelling and inflammation down. You want to use ice at first - usually for the first two to three days after an injury or agravation.
Heat? Heat is good for chronic pain and arthritis that's been around for a long time. The best application of heat is to use a "moist" or "wet" form of heat. Don't use an electrical "dry" heating pad... it doesn't penetrate too deep and might make your problem worse. I recommend heating up a interchangable heat-ice pack in the microwave or a "rice" roll in the microwave...or a hot water bottle. Anything besides a heating pad that plugs into the wall!
Usually a muscle problem will go away after a day or two and NOT come back. But, if the back, neck or joint pain returns, lingers on, shoots down your leg or arm, becomes tingling or numb... that's when you need to get it checked out to determine if it's a disc problem or pinched nerve.
If you need help, please contact my office at 770-777-0900 and make an appointment. My website is http://www.painreliefcare.com.
My office hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 2:00 - 7:00 and Tuesday and Thursday between 10:00am to 1:00pm.