A Song of Fire and Ice (The Therapeutic Version)
Fire – or more accurately heat – and ice therapy are two of the most efficient, economical and easy ways to treat an injury and speed up healing at home. But when to heat and when to cool? As no two bodies or injuries are the same, we offer the general rule of:
Ice is for Injuries
Heat is for Healing
Easy huh?
Ice is for Injuries.
When your body sustains an acute injury, be it a fracture, a strain or a sprain, a whole raft of responses occur including the release of inflammatory agents. Inflammation carries healing agents to the area to clean up the mess. In the case of an acute injury, this healing response is vastly oversized and can cause pain and actually slow down long term healing.
Cold therapy or cryotherapy, is essentially used to down scale the immune response of inflammation. Essentially, cold causes the blood vessels to constrict, preventing excess blood flow to the area – with the added bonus of decreasing pain. Simply, if the area is sore, hot, swollen and red, ice it.
The exception to this rule is in the case of broken skin, where the immune response is necessary to keep the area sterile and infection free. Use cold therapy in a sparing and sterile way, only if you need to take the edge of the pain.
Heat is for Healing
Unsurprisingly, heat has the opposite effect of cold. It causes blood vessels to dilate and bring more blood flow and healing agents to the area, while removing metabolic waste. It also loosens muscles, causes movement in the stagnant areas of trigger points, and just feels really good on sore, tired muscles. If the area feels achy and cold, apply gentle heat.
Chronic inflammatory conditions like plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonopathy may benefit from heat. This is a balancing act – too much inflammation actually causes the tissues to break down. Excessive heat can aggravate tissues, but used efficiently heat encourages healing agents to the area.
It is important to emphasise that these are only general rules. Research has shown that the application of cold and heat can vary between individuals, which supports the TCM notion that treatment should be specific not only to the injury, but also specific to the person. For information on how best to manage your injury, contact the clinic on 03 9530 5536.