Hi, I'm Natalie with Veritas Health, and today I'm going to give you guys some information on the use of heat therapy for pain control.
A question as a physical therapist, that I get from a lot of my patients is how and when should I use heat on my body? This is a great question, as he can be really helpful for controlling pain and help you get back to your daily life and exercise sooner.
A general rule of thumb is if you have a new traumatic acute injury. So something that happened very recently, it's best to avoid using heat for about the first 72 hours, especially if swelling is present. If this is a flare up of a chronic issue or just some pain that you typically have, it's okay to start using heat right away.
When you use heat, it helps bring in more blood flow because it causes vasodilation or opening of the blood vessels. This allows for increased circulation, increased nutrition to the area and help promote healing. It also can help reduce spasms and tightness in the muscles and calm down your nervous system. This can be helpful if you get stuck in a pain spasm cycle where you have more pain, which causes more muscle spasms, which causes more pain.
There are several different ways that you can use heat. One method is using a gel pack, which you can get at your local drugstore. These can be warmed up in the microwave and then placed on the painful area. Another option is an adhesive pad. These activate when they're applied to your skin and can be convenient to wear during your day to day activities. Finally, you can use an electric heating pad, which is helpful if you're trying to get a larger area. And they're helpful because they often have a timer. You know you can set a time and not lose track of time when using it. When using a heating pad, I recommend using for about 10 to 30 minutes and not to exceed 30 minutes. You should check your skin frequently for redness or signs of burning, and make sure you don't fall asleep with this on, as that can cause your time to exceed that time limit.
I also recommend not using a heating pad over any topical anti-inflammatory medication, or even things like Icy Hot, as this can cause a chemical reaction that can be painful and damaging to your skin.
Heat therapy is beneficial because it helps reduce pain, help promote blood flow, and most importantly, can help you be more comfortable so that you can do your daily activities and do exercises, which are the things that are going to help you most long term to come over your pain.
To learn more about heat therapy, please visit us at Spine-health and be sure to subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one. Thanks for watching!
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