It’s natural to seek healing through hot or cold therapy if your muscles are fatigued and need attention. You may not realize, but physicians have been employing drastic temperatures to relieve pain and hasten the healing process for generations.
The question most will have is: which is more ideal for your needs? Hot or cold? Well, it depends, but in some cases, both are needed.
Cold Therapy
Ice, cold compresses and even ice baths have been used by physicians for years to decrease inflammation and speed up the healing process. These days, the have named it “cryotherapy”, which simply means “cold treatment.” When undergoing cryotherapy, this could mean you are partaking in an ice bath or even a simple cold water submersion. There is also the more sophisticated treatment in nitrogen chambers, which is gaining popularity among athletes as well as those in fitness.
Gaseous nitrogen travels over your body while undergoing nitrogen cryotherapy, which chills the skin and stimulates your cold receptors for time periods of under five minutes.
There are various advantages to cold treatment, which are as follows:
Decrease Inflammation: Inflammation is a normal part of physical activity, training and recuperation. However, too much inflammation could result in injury if you overdo it. With cold treatment, you can halt the progression thus stopping injury. Cold will reduce inflammation, as well as the potential for soreness in your muscles.
Help With Injuries You Already Have: You can treat an injury you are experiencing with cold treatment. By using ice directly to a severe injury, where you are already experiencing swelling and your muscles are inflamed.
Cryotherapy isn’t always recommended. Cryotherapy chambers are not recommended for patients with conditions like high blood pressure or cardiac disorders, kids or women who are pregnant.
Heat Therapy
The majority of individuals use heat with a strategy to relax. Hot temperatures may aid sore muscles, which can be done in a heated spa, in a sauna or simple heat pads. There are reasons heat can help you:
Muscles relax when they are exposed to heat. Ice will aid in decreasing inflammation, but is generally used in the dilation of blood vessels and increased blood flow. When suffering from muscle spasms, heat is usually the most common treatment.
Athletes benefit from heat. Saunas are used sometimes when an athlete needs to acclimatize to higher temperatures, as they prepare to compete in a city where the climate is much hotter than they are used to. There are two options: a typical sauna or an infrared sauna, which light generates a heat chamber comparable to nitrogen chambers. This is used to relax muscles after an exercise, although feedback is mixed.
Using heat necessitates hydration. If you choose to utilize a sauna, you must stay hydrated. You may already be dehydrated after your exercise, but the sauna’s heat might lead you to lose even more water.
It is recommended that you refrain from using heat for at least three days. You should stay away from heat until you have begun to recuperate, as a way to relax your injured or strained muscles.
Even if cold or heat treatment is utilized, one of the best strategies is still to rest, eating nutritious food, and drinking lots of water.
If you are going through recovery and are out of work, due to the injury taking place at the hands of someone else, a call to a personal injury attorney can guide you as to what steps need to be taken in a legal regard.
