Hot & Cold Therapy

Hot & Cold Therapy treatments are an established way to ease the pain and discomfort of many injuries and disorders. This is particularly the case with injuries or disorders involving muscle or joint damage. These injuries or disorders can range from ankle sprains to rotator cuff injuries to osteoarthritis.

However, before deciding which hot & cold therapy to use for your injury, it is advisable to understand how each therapy works. Each has very different modes of operation with distinct benefits.If you apply the wrong treatment to your injury, you may well end up doing more harm than good.

The cold treatments work by reducing blood flow through the injury site. This also helps reduce inflammation. Cold treatments are most effective on acute injuries and in the 48 hours after receiving such injuries.

Heat treatments do the opposite – they increase blood flow and promote muscle relaxation. They are better used for chronic injuries or for conditions such  as delayed onset muscle soreness. In some cases, you can alternate hot & cold therapy treatments with each other for increased effectiveness. Delayed onset muscle soreness is one example of a condition that may benefit from this approach.

The heat treatments in the hot & cold therapy category also include moist heat therapy options. These offer deeper tissue penetration and longer lasting pain relief than the traditional dry heat approach. They are a popular choice when dealing with more intense pain such as that from arthritis.

With any type of hot & cold therapy treatment, we would advise against placing the source of heat or cold directly against your skin. It may cause skin damage.

While browsing the hot & cold therapy section, we would suggest taking a good look at the accessories that are also included. Many of them help you to receive greater benefits from this type of therapy with less inconvenience. The shrink wrap bandaging is one example of this type of product.