Oxford Chiropractic Care: Hot/Cold Therapy

In office, we have the ability to use a number of therapies to help your spine heal. Depending on your symptom, one or more of the following may be suggested:

Cryotherapy (Cold Therapy)

Purpose: Cold therapy stimulates vasoconstriction, the narrowing of blood vessels to slow down blood circulation in an area.

• Cold therapy reduces pain and swelling after an injury.
• It is the therapy of choice for spinal pain within the first 72 hours.
• Cold reduces the flow of fluid into tissues and slows the chemicals that inflame and cause pain.
• Cold decreases swelling and bleeding and nerve ending conduction of pain impulses.
• Deep tissue cooling with ice diminishes muscle spasm by lowering muscle contraction.

Note: If you have circulation issues, can’t feel cold or are allergic to cold, ice may not be the preferred therapy for you and may not be applied.

Application: A towel is always put between you and the cold pack. Since swelling and pain often accompany acute injury in the first 72 hours after an injury, ice only may be applied. Ice decreases swelling and numbs the pain in short spurts like 10 minutes at a time.

Thermotherapy (Heat Therapy)

Purpose: Heat therapy fosters vasodilation, the widening of blood vessels to bring more blood to an area.

• Heat is generally sedating because of its nature to decrease the transmission of pain signals and relax tense muscles.
• Heat enlarges blood vessels around a painful area, increasing oxygen and nutrient flow to the muscles which aids in healing damaged tissue.
• Heat also reduces stiffness and adds flexibility which is very important in a healthy back to assist you in taking back your quality of life.

Application: In office, hot packs may be applied to your spine with a towel around them for 10 to 30 minutes.

Purpose: Combining cryotherapy and thermotherapy is often recommended. This generates stimulation of blood flow by bringing blood into an inflamed and painful area with heat and pushing out the blood with an ice pack application.

Application: For most patients coming to our office, a 10 minute hot/10 minute cold/10 minute hot routine is used. This routine is recognized as the Hunting’s Effect whereby too long an ice session reflexively pushes the blood back into the inflamed area resulting in more pain. Hunting’s Effect is useful to the body when you may find yourself in trouble of severe cold, but not when trying to manage pain and inflammation. Heat eases muscles and joints and cold drives out swelling. A combination of the two is best.

Purpose: Often this hot/cold/hot therapy is used along with electrical stimulation which is doubly-effective for your pain management. This produces stimulation of blood flow by bringing blood into a swollen and painful area with heat and pushing out the blood with ice pack application and nerve pain sedation with electrotherapy.

Application: Typically each modality with cryotherapy or thermotherapy is 10 minutes each but may change depending on your condition.