Sports injuries should be cold or hot therapy ?

When sports injuries, when should we use cold therapy and when should we use heat therapy?

Simple observation

It is recommended that you carefully observe the affected area to see if there is still acute inflammation such as redness, swelling, heat, and pain. If the above symptoms still exist, give ice compress.

Conversely, hot compresses can be used for soreness in the subacute and chronic phases to promote tissue healing and circulation, and reduce swelling and bruising.

When should I apply ice?

Generally, when ice is used on the body surface, in addition to the body temperature starting to decrease, it will gradually cause vasoconstriction, lower metabolic rate, and alleviate inflammation, so as to achieve the effect of reducing pain.

Ice compresses are commonly used in acute injuries, such as sprains, inflammation, epidermal burns, muscle cramps or edema, etc. The effect is very significant.

It has the four major effects of stopping bleeding, relieving pain, controlling the spread of inflammation and cooling down. Such as epistaxis, cold therapy is suitable for the initial stage of local soft tissue injury, which can reduce local congestion or bleeding. Sudden sprained joints, burns, cold therapy can reduce the sensitivity of nerve endings and relieve pain. When pink eye occurs, the cold therapy department controls the spread of inflammation and reduces the vitality of bacteria. Of course, when you have a fever, apply a cold towel to your forehead to cool down.

Partial, temporary ice (about 20 minutes or so, will not make the body temperature drop too low; therefore, when you find that your lips are white and your body is shaking involuntarily, it may be too ice or too much ice If it is a long-term phenomenon, you should keep warm immediately and stop using it.

When should hyperthermia be used?

Hot compresses will increase the body temperature, relax the blood vessels, increase the body’s metabolic rate, increase the elasticity of ligaments, joint capsules, and muscles, and promote healing.

Hyperthermia accelerates the local blood vessel dilation and circulation through heat, promotes the excretion of toxins, and can also relieve pain sensory nerves and achieve pain relief effects.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that “warming is not painful.” Hot compresses can be used when minor pains occur in the body. Hot compresses are a better physical therapy. It is beneficial to the recovery of the disease. The hot compress itself can also relieve muscle cramps, dispel blood stasis and reduce inflammation. If hot compresses with medicines can also make the medicines absorbed locally, promoting blood circulation, reducing swelling and relieving pain.

▪︎Generally, ice packs can be used 24 hours before a fall or sprain, and hot packs can be used 24 hours later. The temperature of hyperthermia should be between 60-70 degrees Celsius to avoid burns.

Cautions and taboos for cold therapy:

People with blood circulation disorders are forbidden, cold therapy aggravates the circulatory disorders, leading to local tissue ischemia, hypoxia and tissue necrosis. Cold therapy reduces local blood, which is not conducive to anti-inflammatory. Cold temperature can cause poor blood circulation, increase tissue damage, and affect wound healing. The peripheral circulation of the auricle, scrotum, precordial area, and abdomen is relatively small, and patients with abdominal pain and diarrhea are also contraindicated.

Attention and taboo of hyperthermia:

Patients with severe heart disease and those with pacemakers are disabled. Those who have tuberculosis at the tumor site are prohibited. Prohibited for those with bleeding tendency. Those who have metal objects in their bodies, such as abdominal steel plates, and those with steel nails, are not allowed. The lower abdomen hyperthermia is forbidden for women during pregnancy. Hyperthermia is forbidden for intracranial space-occupying lesions. Prohibited for all kinds of leukemia. Those with high fever are forbidden.

You can use hyperthermia for colds or joint pain

▪︎If you have a cold, you can use a hot towel to apply the Dazhui points on the back of the item to relieve symptoms.

▪︎For joint pain, use a towel to warm the affected area to improve symptoms, promote blood circulation, relieve muscle spasms, and relieve pain symptoms.

▪︎Hyperthermia such as hair dryers and hot towels can only relieve local symptoms. If you are seriously ill, you should go to the local Chinese medicine hospital in time. When the injured area is blistered or damaged, forming an “open wound”, it is not suitable to use a hot towel to apply heat.

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