Ice Or Heat, What Is Better To Alleviate Your Back Pain?

Both heat and cold therapy can provide great relief from your acute or chronic lower back pain. However, how do you know which of these therapies you should use? The discussion below will help you to make up your mind on whether to use heat or ice to treat your back pain.

Ice Therapy Is Recommended In The First One To Three Days

According to the general thumb rule, applying cold therapy is the best thing to do for reducing your back pain in the first one to three days, especially after succumbing to any injury in your lower back. When you apply a cold therapy to your affected body part, your swelling and inflammation can minimize and that in turn may alleviate your back pain. Plus, ice can also diminish the damage caused to your tissues and also numb all those sore tissues at your back.

There are plenty of choices for applying a cold therapy including a frozen towel, frozen gel packs or a frozen bag full of veggies, irrespective of which option you select, you should apply the following precautions:

1. Put a piece of cloth in between the source of your cold therapy and your skin to stay away from any kind of ice burn.

2. Do not apply cold therapy for more than twenty minutes at a stretch. However, you can use the cold therapy to treat your back pain eight to ten times in a day.

Heat Therapy Can Help In The Healing Process

Once your initial inflammation and swelling has subsided, you can utilize heat therapy to trigger the healing process of your affected back. When you apply a heat therapy, it stimulates flow of. blood to that area, bringing restorative nutrients and oxygen. Plus, heat can restrict the entry of pain signals to the human brain thus decreasing stiffness, There are two key categories for a heat therapy; moist and dry. Many people are convinced that dry therapy is simpler to apply though it can make your skin feel dehydrated. While the application of heat therapy may be more difficult, it can enable heat to penetrate into your body muscles. In case you are suffering from diabetes of dermatitis or have an open wound, it is recommended to entirely avoid application of a heat therapy,

What Should You Do If You Are Are Suffering From Chronic Pain In Your Lower Back?

All the above suggestions and recommendations are relevant for using heat and ice are meant to alleviate back pain after its immediate occurrence following a body injury. However, what should be your plan of action when you are suffering from a chronic back pain? The easiest way to answer this tough question is that there is hardly any appropriate answer to this. The process of finding the optimum balance between ice and heat therapy for your chronic back pain can only be accomplished through the technique of trial and error. The reason for this is what could work for one person may be ineffective for someone else. However, as far as exercising is concerned many patients who ail from chronic back pain have observed that undergoing a heat therapy can warm up their sore muscles in the beginning. On the other hand, cold therapy is helpful for reducing inflammation and pain afterward.

Plus, in case you are suffering from chronic or extended pain in your lower back, you should ensure to get care from a quailed and expert medical professional. When you rely on self-care techniques for too long, your back pain may get even worse,

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