When your body tells you something is wrong - pain speaks loudly. How do you best quiet it the best - heat or cold?
To get the best result you need to control blood flow.
As a general rule if an injury is old and cold-- add heat. A hot-pack will bring blood flow into the tissue - adding to the healing and increased pliability of the spasmed muscles/tissues. And it feels cozy.
If your injury is new and hot, especially in the first 2-3 days after injury, it needs to be iced down. Cold causes blood vessels to close down giving the body's lymphatic system a chance to drain some fluids/swelling out of the area.
Apply an ice pack or heat pack for 15-20 minutes being careful not to freeze or burn the contacted skin. Leave it off for 30 minutes before reapplying.
After a couple days if you want to try alternating heat and cold - moving the old fluid with it's inflammatory compounds out of the area and then bringing in new blood in to improve healing; you may achieve optimized healing results. When you're ready to see function in the area restored give me a call.
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