Hot Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis
For someone with an inflammatory disease like RA, applying heat may seem counterintuitive. But since heat works to reduce muscle tension and stimulate blood circulation, many patients find that applying something warm even if it just means warming your clothes in the dryer before dressing, or lying with a heated blanket prior to getting up in the morning simply feels good on the joints.
Gentle heat in the morning can improve your range of motion, explains Katie Palmer, a physical therapist in Newtown, Pennsylvania. It can relieve some of the joint pain and the stiffness and prepare your body for exercise or to get up and get moving and out the door.
One version of hot therapy is the paraffin, or wax, bath, similar to whats used in nail salons to soften the skin and nails. The paraffin is heated to a prescribed temperature and then you dip in your hands, wrists, and fingers, and it forms a coating, Palmer explains. Then you wrap your paraffin-covered hands and wrists in a little towel, and it gives you a nice moist, deep heat that can help eliminate some of the pain and stiffness of RA.
Palmer recommends paraffin therapy for the hands when theyre stiff, like first thing in the morning, but not when the joints are inflamed. When the joints are acutely inflamed, when things are a little bit out of control, its more useful to use a cool temperature to decrease the inflammation and the swelling, she says.
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Can Cold Water Immersion Help With Weight Loss
According to health influencers, the effects of cold exposure can boost your calorie-burning capacity. But is there any truth to this claim?
Although more research is needed to determine whether cold water therapy can help with weight loss, some studies have shown that immersion in cold water can speed up your metabolic rate. This is the rate at which your body uses energy and burns calories.
Take the historical example of Korean women who, for generations, have earned their living by diving for seafood in the chill waters off Jeju island. Until the recent transition to modern wetsuits, these women dove into water between 50°F to 70°F wearing only thin cotton bathing suits.
When researchers studied these women, they found that their basal metabolic rate was significantly higher during their winter diving months than during summer dives.
But does that mean youll drop more weight if you take cold baths or showers? The science doesnt go that far.
A 2009 research review concluded that brief immersions in water less than 59°F did increase metabolism. But there havent been any large studies proving that repeated icy plunges result in significant weight loss.
If you want to test the benefits of cold water therapy for yourself, you can try it out in several different ways. Here are some suggestions:
Hydrotherapy For Sciatica Modalities
The following methods of care can be used to impart the healing ability of water to patients with lower back and leg pain. While these therapies are all symptomatic, most are well known to provide numerous beneficial effects, without any risks whatsoever:
Hot tubs and cool tubs can provide soothing relaxation of soft tissues and might be particularly effective for treating muscular forms of pseudo-sciatica, such as piriformis syndrome.
Ice baths can have virtually immediate anti-inflammatory effects. Ice might also help to provide analgesia for patients with all manner of sciatic nerve pain problems.
Pressurized water sources, such as Jacuzzi tubs, can be used to provide soothing or invigorating massage. Best of all, the patient can apply the jet to whatever part of their anatomy that they choose for maximum enjoyment.
Swimming for sciatica is a great form of exercise that can provide many tangible health effects besides enacting marked pain relief. Swimming is one of the best all-around forms of physical activity for the entire body.
Aquatherapy consists of physical therapy activities that are performed in or under the water in heated pools. The use of water makes PT possible for many patients who would otherwise be contraindicated, due to the pain elicited by strenuous exertion. In the water, gravity and impact are minimized, helping patients to move freely and fearlessly for optimal benefit.
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Do Cold Therapy At Home
Apply cold therapy for about eight minutes at a time, advises Robertson but remove it as soon as your skin feels numb to the touch. Keeping it on too long can damage tissue or even cause frostbite. To help protect your skin, wrap the cold object in a thin towel or cloth. Talk to your doctor before trying any new therapy to make sure its safe for you.
Types Of Cold Therapy
Cold therapy comes in several different forms. These include:
- An ice pack. For milder pain, you can reach into the back of your freezer and use a bag of frozen peas as an ice pack. You can also buy more specialized ice packs from your local pharmacy filled with a cooling gel, which provides longer-lasting cold relief.
- An ice massage.If you need deeper relief, you can massage the swollen or painful area using an ice cube. Try freezing water in a paper cup to cover a wider surface area for farther-reaching arthritis pain or for larger joints like your shoulder.
- An ice bath.A maximum of 15 minutes in a bath filled with ice and water can provide full-body pain and inflammation relief.
At different times, some methods of cold therapy for arthritis may be more convenient than others. You might find more relief in an ice bath than from a locally applied ice pack, for example. However, be aware that you may still feel pain when youre out and about or dont have time to run a bath.
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Arthritis Pain What To Use Hot Fomentation Or Ice Packs
Hot fomentation and ice packs are both convenient methods for relieving pain. They are cheap, readily available, and have no side effects. Also, you can place these packs along the painful region to get local benefits.
So which should you use a hot fomentation or an ice pack? And when to use them?
During the early stages of healing, known as the inflammatory phase, there will be redness, warmth, swelling, and pain. You need to protect your joints and the injured area from further damage. Cold therapy can help you do so. It can cause the blood vessels to constrict and narrow, lowering the flow of inflammatory infiltrates to that region.
The inflammatory phase lasts for a few days. Avoid the use of heat during this phase. Heat raises the blood flow into the injured area and increases swelling.
Hot fomentation increases the temperature of the skin and soft tissue. It permits the blood vessels to expand, allowing more blood flow to the region. Heat also increases the metabolic rate and uptake of oxygen and accelerates tissue healing. It can help relieve muscle spasms and improves flexibility. Hot packs are preferable during the later stages of healing when the tissues are mending.
Chronic osteoarthritis respond better to heat. However, for an acute episode with inflammation, Ice packs can be a wise choice. Ultimately, try the one that suits you the best.
Making A Fitness Plan With Oa
First, some bad news: Youre not going to exercise arthritis out of your knee.
Theres no amount of physical therapy that can change the arthritis, notes Dr. Orlandi. But what we can do is make its impact a lot less. The idea is to change the environment in which the arthritis lives in your body.
That starts with establishing a lifetime fitness routine that builds cardio, strength and flexibility. The human body is awesome in its ability to adapt, says Dr. Orlandi. So even if you have a lot of arthritis that is painful, you can make a huge impact on how you feel.
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How Often Should I Use Ice Or Heat For Joint Pain
As long as youre being smart about which therapy you use and careful about how to use it, Dr. Torres-Panchame says they are okay to use repetitively throughout the day.
It doesnt need to be a formal sit-on-the-couch-with-your-leg-up type of treatment. You may find youre already benefitting from thermal therapy without even realizing it. If taking a hot shower or bath every morning is very soothing to your joints, then youre already reaping the benefits of heat therapy.
Other patients say that washing their hands with hotter-than-usual water is a quick way to sooth their hands throughout the day. Some people report that they actually like washing dishes after meals because its an easy way to use heat therapy.
How Often Should I Perform Moist Heat Therapy On My Dog
Depending on your dogs circumstances, the frequency youll want to use moist heat therapy can vary:
- Typically, moist heat therapy can be repeated every 6 to 8 hours.
- For dogs recovering from a surgery or injury, frequency will vary depending on how far along they are in the healing process. To get a detailed week-by-week plan for your dogs recovery from joint surgery, including heat and cold therapy, at-home exercises, and more, browse our free Home Rehab Guides for Pet Owners here.
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When Should You Ice
Icing is usually recommended during the acute inflammatory phase of healing, typically the first 3 days post-surgery or trauma. However, icing can be used for longer periods of time if swelling and pain persist.
When your dog gets home from surgery, your veterinarian will likely recommend applying an ice pack to the incision and surrounding area every 4-6 hours for 15-20 minutes. You will want to do this for the first 3 days or until the swelling has gone down.
Icing is also very helpful for chronic injuries, such as arthritis. Apply ice to arthritic joints for for 15-20 minutes following any sort of exercise to decrease pain.
The Best Cold Therapy Machines For Arthritis
Ice is a good remedy for arthritis pain. However, people with chronic or severe arthritis symptoms may need more prolonged or controllable cryotherapy for arthritis. Thats where cold therapy machines with cryo cuffs come in.
The cryo cuffs wrap around the affected area and direct cold fluids into the surrounding material, providing a therapeutic dose of cold and some compression to boot.
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How To Ease Arthritis Pain At Home Easily
Warm shower in the morning helps ease stiffness in your joints. At night, you can use heating pads or hot packs for about an hour to keep your joints loose. Cold compresses also help in relieving joint pain. Wrap an ice pack in a cloth and apply it to painful joints for quick relief.
SNS | New Delhi | February 9, 2022 1:47 pm
Arthritis pain
Blame it on your lifestyle, environmental risks, or genetics, certain diseases can become inevitable and could even cause disability. One such disease, arthritis, has become a common illness and could target people at a younger age.
This painful disease is caused by degenerative conditions which are marked by inflammation in the joints that causes pain and stiffness. There are medications that can help in treating arthritis but these conventional methods are strong, immune-suppressing, and could even damage the gut.
Moreover, they could temporarily relieve the symptoms and are unable to address the root cause. But fret not. If you or your family member is suffering from this painful disease, heres help. We have mentioned a few natural ways that will help in reducing the symptoms and can gradually treat arthritis.
Here are some of the remedies:
Epsom salt bath
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What Causes Arthritis Pain
Many different diseases and conditions cause chronic pain. One of the most common is arthritis, a group of diseases that cause inflammation of the joints. Other common types of chronic pain are backache, muscle pain, headache and sore feet.
Arthritis pain is caused by:
- inflammation, the process that causes the redness and swelling in your joints
- damage to joint tissues caused by the disease process or from wear and tear
- muscle strain caused by overworked muscles attempting to protect your joints from painful movements
- fatigue caused by the disease process which can make your pain seem worse and harder to handle
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Hot And Cold Therapies Explained
Treating pain, inflammation and injury with hot and cold therapies can be extremely effective and affordable. However, its important to know which situations call for hot, which call for cold and which may benefit from both treatments. Importantly, this kind of therapy is very good for arthritis and can help ease pain and stiffness that comes with the condition.
Cold Therapy
What is cold therapy?Cold therapy reduces blood flow to the applied area, slows the rate of inflammation and reduces the risk of swelling and tissue damage. It can also temporarily numb sore tissues to help with pain.
Types of Cold Therapy
- Ice packs available to purchase, or use a plastic bag filled with ice or frozen vegetables and wrapping it in a dry cloth. As a general rule, ice packs are used for 20 minutes, removed for 1-2 hours, before being applied again.
- Ice baths body part is immersed in cold water
- Ice massage ice cube or ice pack is moved around the sore area or joint in a circular motion
- Vaporizing sprays very short term effect
Cold Therapy is Best for
- Acute stages of inflammation such as a recent sprain or injury
- Tendinitis or irritation on the tendons following activity
Heat therapy dilates the blood vessels, stimulate blood flow and reduces muscle spasms.
Types of heat therapy
Hot therapy is best for
Precautions
Arthritis NSW were here to help
Were here to help whenever you need us. We have a variety of options available for support and information.
Can Hot Baths Or Spas Help Arthritis Pain
Many people with arthritis find relief from pain and stiffness with hot baths or spas. The moist heat increases muscle relaxation, boosts blood supply to the site of pain, and relieves rigidity and spasms in the muscles. But avoid spending more than 10 minutes at a time in a hot tub if you have high blood pressure or heart disease, or if you are pregnant.
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When To Use Ice For Joint Pain
For the most part, ice is appropriate to use within 48 hours of an acute injury or a flare-up of joint pain that comes with inflammation, experts explain. Examples include tendinitis, bursitis, soft tissue injuries, and inflamed joints, Dr. Bose says.
How to Use Ice for Joint Pain
The rule of thumb for icing down an inflamed area is up to 10 minutes on, followed by about 10 minutes off, several times if needed. Dont put ice or a cold pack directly on the skin, unless the cold pack has a built-in barrier, to prevent skin damage. Pay attention to how your body is responding to the cold. Listen to your body, Dr. Bose says. I tell my patients: Use an ice pack, put it on the knee, and once it starts getting uncomfortable, give it a break.
Types of Ice Therapy
You have a lot of options when it comes to icing a joint. At-home solutions like filling a plastic bag with ice cubes and a little water, using a bag of frozen vegetables, or putting a damp towel in the freezer are time-tested for a reason. You can purchase gel packs and other types of cold packs at drugstores or supermarkets. Whatever method you choose, use something large enough to cover the whole area where the pain is located, Dr. Smith says.
Safety with Ice Therapy
May Ease Symptoms Of Depression
Cold water is not a cure for any mental health condition. But certain case studies suggest that cold open water swimming has helped alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety in some people.
One such case study involves a woman who had experienced anxiety and depression since age 17. At 24 years old, she began a trial program of weekly open water swimming.
Over time, her symptoms decreased so significantly that she was able to stop taking medication to treat them. A year later, her doctors found that regular swimming still kept her depression symptoms at bay.
In another , researchers found that a program of short, twice-daily cold showers decreased depressive symptoms. Its important to note, however, that none of the participants in this study had been diagnosed with depression.
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Generally Heat Applications Work Best Early In The Day
Use this as a jump-start for stiff joints. Icing is used at the end of the day to minimize any inflammation sparked by your days activities. If you have any questions about hot and cold treatments, talk with your doctor. At Summit, our teams of physicians and healthcare professionals can manage symptoms through a variety of conservative treatments designed to restore mobility, reduce pain, and protect the lifestyle you love.