How does ice help swelling

I now have a very clear understanding on how to treat my injuries, thank you so much! May 02, I am very thankful that I found this article! I've had knee replacement surgery and suffered a lot of pain. I was told by therapist that icing was my best friend, but what I didn't know was that 20 minutes on and 30 to 40 minutes off is the best cycle of using ice. I tried it and it worked much better! Thank you for the knowledge! March 20, Thank you for letting me know in plain language about the icing and the Heat I was always getting confused about the two.

March 15, Thank you so much for clearing up the confusion I have had on icing and heat for my back. You explained this so clearly!! December 23, Interesting read, thanks! August 28, Thank you so much,this is very details,I only use heat method before but now I will try the heat and ice method on my clients that has Arthritis.

April 18, Thank you for an in depth explanation. February 15, Thank you for confirming. I think I was icing too often and too long. After reading this article I got it now. December 19, My husband had a cortisone shot into his arthritic shoulder. I was puttng heat on it and did not know about icing for twenty minutes and heat for fifteen minutes, etc. Excellent article to clear up the confusion we had. Thank you! November 27, thank you for sharing the amazing article and tips.

It helps me a lot, in relieving my knee pain. This is the best and most thorough explanation I have been able to find. Thank you. If desired, add soothing aromatherapy. Microwave the container for minutes. Test warmth before applying to avoid burns. Enter your email to stay up to date on the latest pediatric news. Search for news, content, and more. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled.

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Increasing the temperature of the afflicted area even slightly can soothe discomfort and increase muscle flexibility. Heat therapy can relax and soothe muscles and heal damaged tissue. There are two different types of heat therapy: dry heat and moist heat. Professional heat therapy treatments can also be applied.

Heat from an ultrasound, for example, can be used to help pain in tendonitis. When applying heat therapy, you can choose to use local, regional, or whole body treatment.

Local therapy is best for small areas of pain, like one stiff muscle. You could use small heated gel packs or a hot water bottle if you only want to treat an injury locally.

Regional treatment is best for more widespread pain or stiffness, and could be achieved with a steamed towel, large heating pad, or heat wraps. Full body treatment would include options like saunas or a hot bath. There are certain cases where heat therapy should not be used. If the area in question is either bruised or swollen or both , it may be better to use cold therapy. People with certain pre-existing conditions should not use heat therapy due to higher risk of burns or complications due to heat application.

These conditions include:. If you have either heart disease or hypertension, ask your doctor before using heat therapy. If you are pregnant, check with your doctor before using saunas or hot tubs.

Heat therapy is often most beneficial when used for a good amount of time, unlike cold therapy, which needs to be limited. Moderate to severe pain can benefit from longer sessions of heat therapy like warm bath, lasting between 30 minutes and two hours. Cold therapy is also known as cryotherapy. Hallmarks of inflammation include:. And guess what? Your body is really good at sending blood and cells to an injured body part to heal it.

Almost too good. That's why we use ice to control swelling and pain. When ice is applied to your body, it causes vasoconstriction, which limits blood flow to a specific body part. That limited circulation helps to keep swelling down. The ice also helps to decrease pain signals that you may be feeling after your injury.

The 10 minute ice time is really just a general guideline. What if you just can't tolerate 10 minutes of icing on an injured body part? Is there another way to know when to stop icing? There is. You can use the CBAN method of icing. CBAN is an acronym that stands for cold, burn, ache, numb.

Those are the sensations you should feel when applying ice to your injured body part. When you first put ice on, it should feel cold. After keeping ice in place on your injured body part for a few minutes, you should feel a slight burning sensation. This should only last for a few minutes, and then it will be replaced by an ache. After the aching, you will notice that the ice is making your skin feel numb. When you get to the numb feeling, it is time to remove the ice, regardless of the amount of time you have placed the ice on your body.

The CBAN acronym simply uses your own body's sensations to tell you when to remove the ice. Icing an injury has been the conventional wisdom for some time, but research published in indicates that it may not be absolutely necessary. After all, your body has been healing itself for quite some time.

Why all of the sudden should we control that process by using ice? Ice can help make your injury feel better, so many experts recommend using ice for only a short period of time. It may be best to keep the ice on for at least five minutes, and then off for 30 minutes to restore normal blood flow.