Hot and Cold Therapy for Better Pain Management

Therapies using hot and cold wraps can provide great relief from different types of muscle or joint pain because of arthritis or injury. Heat opens up the blood vessels which increases the blood flow to a recurring affected area thus reducing pain while ice will reduce blood flow to a new injury reducing inflammation and swelling. At Rehab Store, you can look up the immense variety we have here for hot and cold packs/wraps, topical analgesics, cold packs and wraps, cold sprays and gels, and hot packs and wraps. Pick your requirement and avail of our super-save offers on them!

Different Types of Therapies

1. Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy also known as cold therapy is the general use of low temperature to perform medical treatment. Cold Therapy is used to relieve muscle pain, sprains, and swelling after tissue damage or surgery. It offers a huge range of treatments from the use of ice packs or immersion in ice baths to the use of cold chambers.

2. Ice Pack Therapy

Ice cold pack therapy is the treatment of the injured area of the body using cold packs. An ice pack is placed over the infected area and is intended to absorb the heat of injury by using conduction to transfer thermal energy. It has several physiological effects such as decreased local metabolism & enzymatic activity, decreased oxygen demand. Cold temperature decreases muscle spindle fiber activity and slows nerve conduction velocity. It alleviates the pain of minor injuries and decreases muscle soreness.

Effects of Ice Pack Therapy

The use of ice packs decreases the blood flow most rapidly at the beginning of the cooling period. Ice packs are not commonly used prior to rehabilitation or performance because it decreases reflex and force, as well as balance immediately after the use of ice pack therapy for 20 min. However, if ice pack therapy is applied for less than 10 minutes, there is no decrement in performance. If the ice pack is removed in less than 10 minutes then athletes can be sent back to training or competition directly with no decrease in overall performance.

3. Thermotherapy

Thermotherapy is the also known as heat therapy. It uses Heat for pain relief and health. Thermotherapy can taken in the form of a hot cloth, heating pad, hot water bottle, ultrasound, cordless FIR heat therapy wraps, whirlpool baths, hydrocollator packs and others. It can be beneficial for patients having arthritis, stiff muscles & injuries to the deep tissues. Thermotherapy is most commonly used for rehabilitation purposes.

4. Hot Packs/Heat Therapy

Heat therapy can be applied using different product such as electric heating packs, warming gel, hot packs, moist heat packs, bed warmers. Heat Therapy offers very effective self-care treatment for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.

What are the Benefits of Ice Pack Therapy?

• Helps in pain relief and muscle healing
• Causes weight loss
• Reduced inflammation
• Reduce the risk of developing dementia
• Reducing anxiety and depression
• Treating Migraine Headaches

What are the Benefits of Heat Therapy?

• Helps in increasing the extensibility of collagen tissues
• Decrement in joint stiffness
• Reduce pain and relieve muscle spasms
• Reduce inflammation and aids in post acute phase of healing
• Increasing blood flow

Precautions While using Hot/Cold Therapy System

• Do not apply heat therapy on an open wound or on injuries.
• Do not apply cold therapy on fragile skin ,around the neck,infected wounds.
• Extreme hot or cold packs should never applied directly on skin.
• Patients suffering from deep vein thrombosis, vascular diseases, diabetes, multiple sclerosis should not use hot therapy system.

Where to buy Hot/Cold Therapy Products Online?

Rehab Store provides an exclusive range of Hot & Cold Therapy Products from renowned manufacturers like Breg, Polar, DJO and many more.