Reusable heat & cold therapy wraps

Therapy wraps are versatile and highly effective in reducing pain, inflammation, and aches. It can treat everything from arthritis to muscle inflammation with a hot or cold pack.

  

When you are injured or experience soreness or chronic pain, you may receive conflicting advice on what to do. The tricky part is knowing what situations call for hot and what calls for cold. As a general rule of thumb, cold therapy is used for acute injuries and inflammation whereas heat therapy is used for muscle pain and stiffness. And if the summer heat is getting you, the therapy wraps can be used hot or cold depending on what your situation is.

 

Cold therapy wraps

Cryotherapy, more commonly known as cold therapy is a healing technique that exposes the body to extremely cold temperatures for several minutes. Popular and effective in treatments to ease pain and swelling from minor injuries. Fortunately, there are local cryotherapy methods available. These come in many varieties- some are sacks of gel that turn into ice packs in your freezer others instantly turn cold just with a squeeze. 

Why use cold therapy?

Typically, treating an injury, muscle strain or even post-operative care was done using ice. Cold therapy penetrates into the tissues to slow circulation, decrease pain and relax muscle spasm and various other forms of arthritis as well. Athletes have long known benefits of cold therapy and even gymnastics find it beneficial in preventing or reducing swelling after exercise. In addition, using cold to slow circulation results in reducing inflammation, swelling or bruising after any kind of trauma or injury, dental procedure or even insect bite. 

When to use cold therapy?

Cold therapy has long been preferred treatment for emergencies like household burns, bruises, cuts or scratches. It is extremely common for acute injuries. If you have had a recent injury where swelling is a problem you should be using ice. Tooth-ache or pain and swelling from dental surgeries are often treated with cold therapy. The lingering after-effect of sports injuries can be treated with immediate application of cold therapy wrap to the affected area. Many athletes use cryotherapy for muscle or injury recovery after exercise.

The sooner you apply an ice pack to a sprain or strain, sooner it will start working to reduce the pain and swelling. Many types of muscle spasms like arthritis pain, neck pain, back pain- can be relieved to a surprising degree by the use of cold packs. Cold therapy can also provide relief from headaches and migraines. 

When not to use cold therapy?
 
People with sensory disorders that prevent them from feeling certain sensations should not use cold therapy. You should not use cold wraps on stiff joints and muscles.

Heat therapy wraps

Thermotherapy, commonly known as heat therapy is more useful than most people realize. Applying heat to the area increases the blood flow bringing along proteins and oxygen.

Why use heat therapy?

The overall benefit of heat therapy is prevalent. This therapy method is used to treat joint stiffness, reduce pain and inflammation, relieve muscle spasm. Heat therapy can provide relaxation, comfort, and reassurance by taking the edge off of various body pains.

Worked out after too long? Soreness can be from over-exertion or just from a simple workout if the area has not been exercised or worked out for a while. Heat therapy can relieve this soreness by forcing the muscle to relax.

Heat stimulates the sensory receptors in the skin, eventually helping in partially relieving the discomfort.

Body stiffness can cause for many reasons, one of the reasons being sleeping in one position. And stiffness can cause a lack of mobility resulting in uncomfortable situations. A heat therapy wrap along with little movement can ease the pain of muscle stiffness.

When to use heat therapy?

A good way to remember when to use heat therapy is by the phrase “Heat to treat”. The heat has the opposite function to cold therapy, applying heat to the area stimulates blood circulation to the area. It brings oxygen and other nutrients to the surface resulting in fast healing. 

Whereas cold therapy is used as an immediate first aid intervention but heat therapy is used in on-going fashion to manage and heal the old injuries. However, the effectiveness of heat treatment can depend on the depth of tissue affected by pain or injury. Heat therapy is often beneficial when used for a good amount of time, unlike cold therapy which is used for a limited time.

Systematic heat is often useful in all over body aches or pain you feel after a full day of standing on your feet. Thermotherapy can be used to treat a sore body and even sore feet. For people with chronic back pain or stiffness, heat therapy can be a more approachable alternative in managing symptoms and stiffness. Thermotherapy also warms the muscles and tendons in your back resulting in easy stretching.

When not to use heat therapy?

Heat therapy is not suitable for all injuries. Any injury that is already hot and inflamed will not benefit from further warming. This includes infections, burns or fresh injuries or an open wound.