Using Hot Or Cold Treatments For Pain
Most people in pain call us and ask what can they do before they come in for an appointment. They ask: "Should I use ice? Should I put heat on the painful area? And how long should I keep it on the affected area?" The key to deciding whether to you need hot or cold therapy is to determine if you have an injury or if you have chronic pain. If your are injured and you have inflamation, you want blood to move away from the affected area and cold therapy is probably best. If you have chronic pain from old injuries or stress you usually need to bring blood into the stressed area.
In Pain Now? Should You Use Ice or Heat?
Heat therapy is used to combat older injuries where no swelling is present. Sore, aching, stiff muscles or joints can often benefit from heat before exercise. Heat increases blood flow in the area of application and increases the elasticity of connective tissues. Warmer, more relaxed muscles and joints will have a better range of motion. This translates into enhanced performance and less likelihood of further injury. Heat should never be applied immediately after an athletic activity because it may encourage inflammation.
Heat therapy causes vasodilation: drawing blood into the tissues where you are experiencing pain. Increased blood flow delivers needed oxygen and nutrients, and removes cell wastes. The warmth decreases muscle spasms, relaxes tense muscles, relieves pain, and can increase your range of motion.
Heat for chronic pain is available in many forms including hot and moist compresses, dry or moist heating pads, and commercial gel packs. We recommend some form of wet heat. You can use a heating pad but try to put a hot moist towel between the pad and your skin. For a quick makeshift solution you can just heat a towel in hot water and ring it out before applying it to your pont of pain. Do not heat it hot enough to burn you skin - 100 degrees fahrenheit is fine. Do not apply heat for longer than 2 hours continuously.
You should always wrap hot packs in toweling to prevent yourself from getting burned. If you accidentally puncture a commercial hot packs you should throw it away because the chemical gel will burn skin.
How to Use Cold Therapy
Ice and cold packs are the treatment of choice for injuries occurring within the last 48 hours that involve swelling. A sprained ankle is a perfect example. Let's say you twist your ankle in aerobics class. Almost immediately, you notice that your ankle starts to swell. This is your body's natural response to injury. Unfortunately, your body can overreact, and the swelling can become as much of a problem as the original injury. Ice, a natural vasoconstrictor, lessens the blood flow to the area and temporarily numbs it. The combined effect reduces swelling and pain.
The natural anti-inflammatory property of ice can be useful to treat older injuries that are worsened or irritated by using the joint or muscle. For example, a tennis player whose elbow or shoulder throbs after a match may want to ice it after her match. A runner whose knee hurts after a long run may benefit from ice, as well. In these cases, ice should be applied to reduce inflammation only after the athletic activity. If ice is applied before the event, it may make matters worse by reducing the blood flow to the injured body part just as it's being pressed into service.
Choose an ice pack that fits the shape of your injured body part. Though commercial cold wraps are available, you can use a bag of frozen peas or crushed ice as well. Their flexible contours drape nicely around knees, ankles and shoulders. Apply the ice pack as soon as possible after the injury. Keep it on for 10 to 20 minutes, and then let the skin return to normal temperature before reapplying. (You don't want to risk frostbite!) Repeat this process as often as possible over the next 48 hours. Also, you can reduce swelling by resting, elevating and, if your doctor recommends it, wrapping your injured body part in a lightly compressive bandage
Using Enzymes To Recover From Injuries Quickly
There is no greater need for additional nutrients than during an inflammatory reaction to an injury.
Injuries result in a rapid loss of body protein, the amount depends on the extent of tissue damage. Tissue protein must be replaced. Blood flow to the injured area increases, while blood flow away shuts down. Blood vessels become more permeable, fluid seeps into the tissues, and the capillaries become engorged. These events all result in three of the four cardinal signs of inflammation: swelling, redness and heat.
During an inflammatory reaction our bodies require increased amounts of fibrin, plasmin, thrombin and kinins. However, the primary response to inflammation is by the immune system and its increased use of enzymes. Localized deficiencies of enzymes can prolong inflammation and delay healing. It has been reported that oral use of proteolytic enzymes can reduce healing times by up to 50 percent.
In addition to use by the immune system, enzymes breakdown micro-thrombi and fibrin clots in the injured area. This increased blood flow and the debris and waste products are removed more quickly. Therefore, taking enzyme supplements is useful for recovering from an injury. All of this is fairly common knowledge among chiropractors. What is uncommon knowledge is which enzymes should be supplemented and in what form.
There is a great deal of misinformation concerning the destruction of supplemental enzymes by hydrochloric acid (HC1) in the stomach. Many practitioners are under the impression that HC1 is constantly present in the stomach. This, of course, is not true. It takes 30 to 60 minutes for the body to concentrate the amount of acid in the stomach, if it can do it at all. Acid production occurs in response to stretching of the stomach wall by the presence of food.
When we supplement enzymes because of an inflammatory reaction, we should do so on an empty stomach and there is no need to worry about acid production in the stomach. If we supplement with meals, the enzymes will be used in the digestion of food and are not available to the immune system.
This means that using enteric coated enzyme tablets between meals to protect the enzymes from HC1 is a waste of time and money. Besides enzymes lose from 40% to 60% of their potency by being compressed into tablet form!
Enzyme supplements are available at your local vitamin store or drug storre. Call us or fill out the form on the side of this page to ask one of our Doctors which enzyme pills are most effective and what dosage you should take.
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