Heat & Ice For Pain Management

Patients often ask whether ice or heat is best for their injuries.

Ice and heat are used as complementary treatments to use in conjunction with other manual therapies such as muscle work, acupuncture and rehabilitation. Based on clinical experience and research, both ice and heat are equally effective, one isn’t better than the other, but there is a time and a place for each. Ice and heat work my distracting the brain from the pain you are experiencing by sending an overwhelming sensation of temperature to the brain via the skin. Heat may also speed up cellular metabolism where as ice may slow it down.

When to use ice or heat:

• Heat is generally used to help soothe stiff joints and improve muscle relaxation. Heat is also used to help decrease stress and relax the body. But heat may aggravate inflammation during an acute traumatic injury (ankle sprain, muscle tear, bone break etc..) and cause further complications.

• Ice is used to help to numb sharp pain, to decrease inflammation and to help reduce the pain associated with acute injuries such as sprains/strains, tendonitis and inflammation.

Although there’s evidence to suggest when to use ice or heat, your preference also matters. If you can’t tolerate either one, then it wouldn’t be beneficial to use.

When not to use ice or heat:

Ice and heat can be potentially harmful if you try to ice an injury when you’re already cold or trying to heat an injury when you’re already sweating or very hot. The brain can perceive this as a threat and can cause further injury to your body.