Hot And Cold Treatments
By editor | October 18, 2007
Warmth can relieve pain by relaxing muscles, and cold can soothe pain and help reduce inflammation. And you can easily use them in ingenious ways to ease your pain.
- Soak in a warm tub or take a warm shower. If you have a huge hot tub, where you can submerge up to your chin in blissfully warm water, that’s perfect. If not, a standard tub will do. If you don’t have time to take a full bath and just your feet or hands are hurting, then soak them in a pan or bucket of warm water.
- To ease morning stiffness, turn on an electric blanket or electric mattress pad and enjoy the heat for a while before you get out of bed.
- Warm your clothes in the dryer for a few minutes before putting them on. This is especially comforting on chilly winter days.
- Use a warm compress on your painful joint, made of a towel soaked in hot water and wrung out. Or try an old-fashioned hot water bottle, placing a towel between it and your skin. (Don’t leave either on for more than 20 minutes.)
- Use a heat lamp, but be careful to read directions and follow them closely.
- Some health care professionals don’t recommend heating pads, because if you happen to doze off you can burn your self badly. If you do use one, however, place a kitchen timer with a loud ringer nearby with the timer set for 15 minutes.
Ice is also an excellent way to relieve pain and help fight minor inflammation, especially right after you have been active. There are several ways to apply ice. You can use anyof the following:
- A cold pack that you store in the freezer
- An ice bag that you fill with ice
- A bag of crushed ice wrapped in a towel
- A bag of small frozen vegetables such as peas (and then have them for dinner)
As with hot treatments, leave the ice on no more than 20 minutes at a time, and be careful not to put it directly on your skin. You can wrap it in a towel, or put it in an ice bag you can buy at the drugstore. If you need to cool your ankles, feet, or hands, a bucket or dishpan with ice cubes and water is simple and effective. Just immerse and relax.
Physical therapists often use both hot and cold treatments. Hydrotherapy, supervised by a physical therapist, is done in a heated pool or whirlpool. While in the warm water, you may do gentle exercises aimed at improving your range of motion (how far you can move each joint), coordination, and circulation. Because the heat helps relieve pain and the water bears much of your weight, you’ll be surprised by your ability to do exercises in the water that would be nearly impossible on dry land.
Tagged under:Arthritis chilly winter days cold pack crushed ice frozen vegetables heat lamp hot water bottle relieve pain warm water
Topics: Arthritis |
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