Should I Heat it or Ice it?

I get the question sometimes of “should I ice this or heat this?”. It depends on what “this” is—meaning, is “this” an acute injury or a chronic problem?

When you should Ice

Icing should be used to treat acute injuries; typically for the first 48 to 72 hours. The icing should be performed for a duration of 8-12 minutes, allowing for the region to recover fully following the icing application. Then, the next application of ice may be administered.  There are a variety of methods to “ice” an area of the body—frozen gel packs, ice cups, ice water immersion, to name a few examples. Most folks use a gel pack or have a bag of frozen vegetables (the smaller the veggie, the better!) that they use—just be sure not to cook with it, the freezing and thawing isn’t good for the veggies. Unless instructed otherwise, it is important to have a barrier between the skin and the cold element to protect the skin. Usually, a t-shirt works just fine.  If the pain of your injury doesn’t diminish by more than 50% after icing for a couple days, then it’s time to get that injury checked out, professionally.

When you should Heat

As for heating areas of the body, heat works well for chronic conditions, like arthritis. Again, there are many methods for heating an area of the body up; however, moist heat works best. (Think grandma’s hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.)  Depending upon the size of the area, a heating pad would work just fine; however, smaller parts of the body will require different methods (feel free to ask me for direction here for your home care).  Shorter and more repetitive durations of the heating element work best rather than laying on a heating pad for hours at time. Heat the area for 15 minutes, then allow the area to recover before heating the same area up again. Sometimes, it’s good to use both ice and heat, but this is only in special circumstances and I won’t go into that here.

So to summarize, if you remember to keep the vowels together (“A”cute and “I”ce) and the consonants together (“H”eat and “C”hronic”), you should be fine and not experience any trouble. Should you have any doubts, feel free to ask the office—that’s what we’re here for!