To use Heat or Ice

A question I get often is should I be using ice or heat.  Here are a few general guidelines to help you be able to tell which form you should be using to rehabilitate an injury or sore muscle.  If you have speicific questions webmd.com or mayoclinic.com goes into much more detail about specific conditions as my goal is to educate for general purposes not diagnose or treat.  In general if the problem is acute (or coming on suddenly) ice is appropriate or whenever there is pain, swelling, and inflammation.  It's also used for conditions such as arthritis.  Ice can be used from 10-20 minutes and may be used several times a day.  Ice can be used in the form of ice massage and ice or cold packs.  Heat is used to help muscles relax and speed up healing of soft tissue through increased circulation. Heat is also useful in treating joints with osteoarthritis and to relax the muscles before exercise.  As helpful as heat can be, if used too early on an injury it can create excess swelling (which can increase pain).  Waiting at least 48 hours seems to be a general recomendation by most experts.  Never use heat on an area that has been recently bruised.  A bruise is caused by ruptured underlying blood vessels and heat may cause the bruise to get worse.  Heat can be used in various forms: hot tub, heat packs(dry or wet), or methods like parafin wax just to name a few.  If you are wanting to use a damp heat but do not have any type of pack a cheap way is to take a hand towel dampen put in the microwave and heat for approximately 2 minutes.  Be sure to test before applying to an area.  Often it is wise to cover hot damp hand towel in a regular towel before applying to the skin.  Its important not to burn the skin!