Benefits of Hot and Cold Therapies

Cold therapy and heat therapy are useful in treating inflammation and pain in the human body. Thermal therapies are used by practitioners  to improve motion of your injured body and joint segments.

This enables you to take part fully and faster in rehabilitative activities. Practitioners include physiotherapists, chiropractors, etc., who use heat therapy, cold therapy and hot-cold therapy for alleviating various conditions and ailments.

Benefits of Heat Therapy:

It is very useful for treating musculo-skeletal injury, caused mostly by sports related activities. Heat therapy is divided into two types: Deep and superficial.
Types of superficial heat therapy include hot packs, infra red heat, hydro therapy and baths in paraffin wax. Types of deep heat therapies include ultrasound and microwave and short wave diathermy.

Applying heat to your body increases blood flow and results in more flexibility to your connective tissue. It reduces muscle spasms , pain and joint stiffness. It lowers congestions and inflammation in tissues. It is used to treat complaints ranging from arthritis, injuries to cancer.

Benefits of Cold Therapy:

Cold therapy (cryotherapy) is used by medical professionals to treat serious injuries of the musculo-skeletal systems. It is aiming at reducing  inflammation, pain , muscle spasms, inflammation and metabolic rate.

Cold therapy cools the surface of skin as well as underlying tissue, which causes narrowing of blood vessels (vaso- constriction). Vaso constriction reduces flow of blood to injury site thus lowering swelling.

Benefits Of Contrast Therapy (Hot and Cold):

Contrast therapy: Use of heat and cold has been used to treat health conditions since ages. It is believed to exert a physiological impact on the gateway of pain to your body. It works by interrupting pain signals to the brain.

Pain relief is welcome to those who suffer long term pain like that of muscles and nervous system. As part of this therapy, you can use hot and cold packs or alternating cold showers and hot pools. This is known as hydro therapy where water of contrasting temperatures is used to heal  large or small areas of the body. One can buy hot and cold therapy products from health stores or online stores.

These are some of the various therapies used to treat pain, inflammation and swelling of the body.