What Is Best For Arthritis Pain Heat Or Ice

Heat and cold treatments can help relieve arthritis pain and inflammation.

What is best for arthritis pain heat or ice.

Some patients prefer cold therapy to moist heat for arthritis pain while others tell of having the best relief when they alternate the sessions with moist heat and ice. Cold slows blood flow reducing swelling and. While prescription medication and physical therapy are the first line of defense for addressing arthritis causes an age old home remedy heat or cold therapy may help reduce pain and improve. The thermotex infrared heating pad tts platinum model is the most popular although there are other thermotex therapy systems available.

Heat treatments can include taking a long warm shower or bath in the morning to help ease stiffness and using an electric. It often works best for morning stiffness or to warm up muscles before activity. But for acute gout flares she favors ice. Be careful not to burn yourself.

For an acute injury such as a pulled muscle or injured tendon the usual recommendation is to start by applying ice to reduce inflammation and dull pain. Apply heat before your mall trip and cold after you return home. Sometimes deep penetrating heat is the best thing to reduce your arthritis pain. Before and after physical activity what about prior to exercise activity.

Patients with more chronic osteoarthritis usually feel better with heat says rheumatologist linda mileti md. Use of heat such as applying heating pads to aching joints taking hot baths or showers or immersing painful joints in warm paraffin wax can help relieve pain temporarily. Ice is preferred but heat wraps can halt neck spasms that contribute to headache. Ice ice packs and other cold therapies can help reduce knee pain and muscle spasms.

Heat boosts the flow of blood and nutrients to an area of the body. You can experiment with. Heat wins for arthritis and injuries that linger more than six weeks. Conventional medical wisdom suggests using ice to treat an acute injury or pain that occurs after activity.

Heat loosens up muscles increases flexibility and increases circulation.