When is heat needed for on going pain and when is cold? What is the difference
In: Biology
Heat is just to soothe stiff joints and relax the muscles.
Cold is to alleviate pain, injury or inflammation.
So if the injury is fresh, keep ice.
If you feel slight discomfort after cure, then opt for Heat.
I do pain research and the good old RICE acronym isn’t as useful as we used to think
Here are my recommendations:
Heat = things are stiff and sore. Some evidence it might speed up healing very slightly but not enough evidence that I’d confidently say it makes you heal faster. But it might
Ice = numbs the area. Some evidence it might actually slow down healing. The evidence here is a little stronger than the evidence in favour of heat but not necessarily enough evidence to say you should never use ice
So my general rule is: if you’re tolerating the pain well, heat is your best bet. If you are suffering and your number one priority is to lessen the pain temporarily, that’s when I’d use ice
So when I see someone with a broken arm or sprained ankle that just happened a few minutes ago I don’t hit them with a “WeLl AcKsHuAlLy you should use heat”. The priority in the moment is to minimize the agony.
So in your case: I’d go with heat. And it seems like a gym injury so not just heat but also continuing to use the muscle just with less weight, less range of motion, slower, anything like that. Then work your way back up gradually as you start to feel better and you should be good as new
Heat should be used for relaxing muscles – when you have tension or spasms for example. It can also work to relax cramps.
Ice should be used to reduce swelling and inflammation. A sprained ankle for example should be iced to reduce the swelling.
A great example: a pitcher in baseball will want to keep heat on his arm and shoulder in between innings to keep the arm loose and relaxed. It’s why you will see some guy put their arm in only one sleeve of a jacket on colder days. After the game, they will ice the arm and shoulder to reduce any inflammation and swelling from the repeated motion.
ice to reduce initial inflammation and pain. heat later to increase blood flow and reduce soreness
Registered nurse here.
The rule of thumb is really simple. If cold helps, use cold. If heat helps, use heat.
Cold will help pain by slowing nerve impulses. Heat will help pain by relaxing muscles. It can depend on lots of factors which one will be best for your injury. Use whichever one works. But 15 minutes is about as long as you want to use either one, after that efficacy drops quite a bit.
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