Ice and heat help our bodies in different ways so it’s important to understand the difference between the two. While many of my clients prefer the way heat feels, it’s not always the best choice to help with the problem they’re suffering from.

So what do ice and heat do for our bodies?

Ice is used to decrease inflammation or swelling in our body.

When we have soreness in a muscle from overuse or injury, our bodies natural healing response is inflammation. If we have a minor amount of inflammation, we can often allow our body to heal on its own in a relatively short amount of time.

If our soreness or injury is more severe (e.g. an acute injury), ice will help to reduce the inflammation and discomfort to help our body with the healing process. Many times my clients have said that they took some ibuprofen or other NSAID* rather then using ice. While the end result is somewhat the same, there are many side effects of using NSAIDs.

Ice is a natural healing remedy that works quickly and effectively for.a variety of symptoms:

• sprains, strains, sore muscles

• gout, arthritis, tendonitis

• headaches

You can use a soft ice pack (or a bag of frozen vegetables) on the affected area for approximately 20 minutes to decrease pain and inflammation. It’s important to use a thin cloth between your skin and the ice pack to protect your skin from getting too cold. If the pain persists, wait at least 20 minutes without ice and reapply.

Caution: It is possible to give yourself minor frostbite from keeping a very cold ice pack on your skin too long. This is especially easy to do if you have neuropathy caused by diabetes or other conditions.

You can avoid this by setting a timer for 20 minutes and paying attention to how your skin feels and looks while you’re icing, with a thin cloth or towel between the ice pack and your skin. The affected area should feel cold but not painful and your skin should not turn overly red or pale. If you feel or see these symptoms or the ice simply feels too uncomfortable, remove it.

Heat is used to increase circulation and blood flow

Applying heat to stiff and tight muscles or joints will help to decrease discomfort and pain by bringing more blood to the affected area and helping the muscles to relax. It’s also helpful when you’re addressing a longer-term or chronic discomfort.

Heat should not be applied to a new injury during the first 48 hours

Similar to icing, set a timer for 20 minutes while placing a heating pad (or other heating object, e.g., heat rice bag, etc) on the affected areas and pay attention to how your body feels while using the heat. You do not want the area to feel too hot or uncomfortable. If this occurs, either remove the heating pad and/or decrease the temperature to a lower setting.

The heat should feel soothing and decrease your pain or discomfort. It should never increase it.

When is it useful to alternate between ice and heat?

1. When you are experiencing discomfort or pain related to exercise (this can be from formal training or simply working around your house or yard), AND

2. You are not experiencing an acute injury

Alternating between ice and heat can be very helpful to decrease the inflammation from the hard work and exertion your muscles have experienced and then increasing the blood flow back to the affected area so that muscles and joints can resume normal activity with ease.

It’s not always convenient to ice or heat your sore or tight muscles, but when you take the time to do it, there is a very high likelihood that you will feel much better afterwards!

Action Step:

1. If you have soft ice packs, make sure they are easily accessible in your freezer or that you have frozen vegetables that can be used for icing.

2. Know where your heating pad or other heating options are in your home.

3. Use the ice or heat the next time you’re feeling pain or discomfort (as described above) and help your body to heal faster and feel better!

*NSAIDs are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They’re used to reduce inflammation, pain and to reduce fevers. The most common NSAIDs are aspirin (Bayer, Bufferin, etc), Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and Naproxen (Aleve). While they can be helpful short term, there are various side effects related to each and should be used with caution.