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.

What is best for arthritis pain heat or ice.

You can experiment with. 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. Apply heat before your mall trip and cold after you return home. Ice is preferred but heat wraps can halt neck spasms that contribute to headache.

Use heating pads for no more than 20 minutes at a time. Heat treatments can include taking a long warm shower or bath in the morning to help ease stiffness and using an electric. Accordingly heat applications can sometimes work best early in the day by relaxing the muscles around the joints while ice applications at the end of the day can minimize the inflammation resulting from the daily activities. Conventional medical wisdom suggests using ice to treat an acute injury or pain that occurs after activity.

Cold slows blood flow reducing swelling and. Be careful not to burn yourself. Heat wins for arthritis and injuries that linger more than six weeks. Patients with more chronic osteoarthritis usually feel better with heat says rheumatologist linda mileti md.

Sometimes deep penetrating heat is the best thing to reduce your arthritis pain. Heat loosens up muscles increases flexibility and increases circulation. Ice ice packs and other cold therapies can help reduce knee pain and muscle spasms. Once inflammation has gone down heat can be used to ease stiffness.

Before and after physical activity what about prior to exercise activity. 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. It often works best for morning stiffness or to warm up muscles before activity. Heat and cold treatments can help relieve arthritis pain and inflammation.

Heat boosts the flow of blood and nutrients to an area of the body.