Cold packs and hot baths control flare-ups, relax muscles, reduce inflammation, and change your mood; they also improve the effectiveness of almost any other treatment you pair them with. Heat and cold also work on other levels of your body to reduce pain. They provide sensory stimulation that closes the spinal body to reduce pain. They provide sensory stimulation that closes the spinal cord’s pain gate, at least temporarily; they relax muscle spasms and increase range of motion, and cold tightens up blood vessels and reduces inflammation.
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Application |
Suggested length of treatment |
Most useful for … |
Contraindications |
| Hot-water bottle, heating pad, or hydrocollator pack. Wrap the unit in a thin towel before applying to your skin. Most people prefer the bottle or pack, because the moistness conducts heat more effectively and tends to feel more soothing | 10-15 minutes every hour as desired. |
Reducing muscle spasm as well as stiffness and pain in joints. Comforting you when pain is especially distressing. Softening trigger points before or after massage. |
Do not use intense heat on actively inflamed joints. Try a cooler therapy instead. Do not use heat if you have diabetes, MS, peripheral neuropathies, Raynaud’s phenomenon or disease, or anything else that prevents you from feeling temperature normally. |
| Hot bath or sauna | If you’re in a sauna or extremely hot bath, stay in for no more than 15-20 minutes. | Whenever you feel achy all over. Relieving spasm and stiffness. Reducing stress. Preventing soreness and pain after exercise, stretching or physical therapy. | Don’t take saunas or very hot baths if you have a heart problem, high blood pressure, diabetes, or a blood-vessel condition. Diabetes, MS, peripheral neuropathies, Raynaud’s phenomenon or disease. |
| Paraffin. Lower your hand or foot several times into gently heated wax and then seal in the heat with a mitt or towel. You can try this technique at a physical therapist’s office or a spa. | About 10 minutes. | Osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis. | Do not use on actively inflamed joints, skin, lesions, joint infections, or an area with a tumor. Diabetes, MS, peripheral neuropathies, Raynaud’s phenomenon or disease. |
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Application |
Suggested length of treatment |
Most useful for … |
Contraindications |
| Ice pack. Use a plastic bag filled with ice cubes and wrapped in a thin towel. Some therapists prefer a bag of frozen peas. You can also dip a washcloth into ice water and wring it out. | 10-15 minutes every hour as desired. | Acute pain. Preventing an inflammatory reaction to exercise. Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome. Apply the pack to whatever area feels particularly tender at a given moment. Neck and back pain. | Diabetes, MS, peripheral neuropathies, Raynaud’s phenomenon or disease, anything that reduces sensation in your nerves. |
| Ice massage. You can perform one at home by filling a Styrofoam cup with water, freezing it, and tearing the lip off the top. Hold the cup by the bottom and rub the ice directly onto your ski. | 5-15 minutes every hour as desired | Relieving spasms. The massage component of this treatment increases blood flow and helps mobilize the tissue. | See above. |
Almost everyone in pain suffers from muscle tension, either as their primary symptom or as a natural defensive reaction to pain’s ongoing alarm bells. Massage helps unclench muscles and other tight spots. At the level of the spinal cord, the rubbing sensation blocks pain impulses from traveling up to the brain. Massage apparently also depletes substance P, a neurotransmitter that helps communicate the pain sensation, and it increases endorphins.
American Massage Therapy Association |
National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork |
Rolfing is an intense, deep-tissue therapy with a reputation as being painful. If you have muscle or myofascial pain that feels widespread and out of reach of normal massage, or if you feel that your pain is related to body stiffness and misalignment, Rolfing may be a good option for you.
The Rolf Institute |
Schneider, Jennifer. Living with Chronic Pain: The Complete Health Guide to the Causes and Treatment of Chronic Pain. Long Island City, NY. Hatherleigh Press, 2004
Dillard, James N. The Chronic Pain Solution: Your Personal Path to Pain Relief. New York, NY:Bantam Book, 2002.
This page was first published on May, 15th, 2008 and last updated on May, 15th, 2008