Sunday, March 24, 2024
HomeCan Heat Make Back Pain Worse

Can Heat Make Back Pain Worse

When To Use Ice For Lower Back Pain

How Stretching Can Make Your Sciatic Pain Worse | w/ Portland Chiropractor Dr. Carl Baird

In most instances, you should use ice on your back for the first 24 to 72 hours following an injury. Cold therapy helps minimize swelling and inflammation. This, in turn, eases your pain. Cold therapy may also decrease tissue damage.

Whether you use an ice pack, a frozen towel or even a bag of frozen vegetables, place a cloth between your skin and the source of cold to prevent ice burn. Cold therapy should be applied for no more than 20 minutes at a time, but it can safely be applied up to 10 times in a 24-hour period.

Ice Or Heat And What To Use When

There has always been confusion surrounding heating versus icing injuries. The line has never been drawn on what to use unless you see your doctor, of course.

The truth is, there is a clear line that tells you when to heat and when to ice without going straight to the emergency room. Treatment for an injury is determined by its location and the type of injury sustained. Not only will we explain when to ice and when to heat, but we will also explain why.

Do Not Ice Lower Back Or Neck Pain

Wait! What? You shouldnt ice low back pain? The truth is, treating low back pain with ice can make the pain worse. Icing these areas can actually cause the body to feel threatened. In many cases, you will immediately notice that the muscle spasm increases the second you place ice on the injured area. In other cases, you might notice a very unpleasant sensation when the ice is applied.

After a few minutes go by, you will notice that your pain has increased, and the area becomes extremely stiff and difficult to move. While it does not do any permanent damage, it is not a very pleasant experience and you most likely will not try it again.

According to scientific studies, the reason the lower back and neck react in this manner is because they are full of muscular trigger points, or muscle knots. These are common muscle dysfunctions found in the back because this area carries so much of the human weight and is responsible for so many movement functions.

If you consider how your body is structured, you will see how much your spine really does, it protects the spinal cord, it carries all of the nerves to various exit points throughout your body, and if compromised, it can cause you to become paralyzed. That is pretty hard work for something that looks like a rippled stick put together with a lot of puzzle pieces. No wonder the brain is so over protective!

Read Also: Will Naproxen Help Back Pain

Abused Term #: Noxious Stimuli

The term noxious stimuli is similarly abused, as if it was the same thing as pain. But these stimuli are not inherently noxious they are only threatening in excess or depending on what caused them. Both heat and pressure can easily be excessive and dangerous, but usually these stimuli are minimal and completely safe and yet still extremely useful.

For instance, squirming is inspired by the information we get from pressure receptors. We are bombarded by constant low-priority data about the need to shift position because theres been some pressure on this or that spot for too long. Its nowhere close to dangerous yet but if we didnt move, those spots would become pressure sores.

How To Create Lasting Change

Can the Summer Heat Make My Back Pain Worse?

The question you probably have now is one I get asked all the time: If someone is at a high level of pain and you dont want to create more pain and inflammation, then what kind of bodywork do you apply that creates lasting change in pain and inflammation?

The answer: indirect applications, the techniques that seem to affect pain from a distance for what your client complains of.

I always tell my students to use the technique that works. That could be the Pain Patterns and Solutions techniques I teach, or it could mean several other tools in your massage toolbox. It all depends on how the client responds. The only way you will know which technique works is to check before-and-after pain levels. That is your undeniable proof.

When you decrease pain, you decrease inflammation. Then the body has more energy to heal itself. Watch for what takes pain from an eight to a four in that session, then from a seven to a three in the next session, then a six to a two, and so on.

Also Check: Advil Or Aleve For Back Pain

When To Use Ice And When To Use Heat For Aches And Pains

No matter what your fitness level, everyone deals with aches and pains from time to time. From the rec-league warriors and high school athletes to fitness newbies, being active can come with aches, pains and sometimes injuries.

When you find yourself in pain, or groaning a little more than normal when you stand up, it can be a tough to know whether to use ice or to apply heat to get some relief. Heres some advice on what to do the next time you find yourself feeling a twinge.

Where Are All These Receptors Anyway

Receptor proteins are sprinkled everywhere in human physiology, but they are clustered the most thickly on nociceptors the nerves most specialized for detecting potentially dangerous stimuli. And they are the thickest of all where they are most likely to encounter the stimuli they exist to detect so theres a lot of them in the skin.

Piezo1 and Piezo2 are also dense in the walls of hollow organs. To detect stretch. How else will you know when its time to pee?

You May Like: Advil For Lower Back Pain

When You Should Not Ice Or Heat An Injury

Heat is well known for making swelling worse. Ice is well known for making muscle tension and muscle spasms worse, and more painful. Because of this, if you use the wrong method of treating an injury, you can do mild to moderate harm to the area.

Ice and heat are both controversial in contradicting environments and situations: Ice is pointless when you are shivering, and heat is pointless when you are sweating in the summer heat. Not only is it pointless, it can also be interpreted by the body as a threat, which can significantly increase the amount of pain experienced from the injury.

Changes In Barometric Pressure

Ice Versus Heat for Back Pain

The sensory nerves in your joints, known as baroreceptors, can be partly to blame for your summer pain. These special nerves cause tendons, ligaments, and muscles to expand or contract to improve blood flow regulation when the humidity shifts.

If you have spine-related issues, these changes can affect sensitive nerves alongside your back as well.

Also Check: Aleve Or Advil For Lower Back Pain

Does Heat And Humidity Make Joint Pain Worse

As we head into the Arizona monsoon season, you may be finding you have more trouble with joint pain.

Many people with arthritis find they have more stiffness and pain as the humidity rises and barometric pressure dropsas can happen before a monsoon storm. This may be because changes in temperature and humidity change the level of fluid in our joints.

In addition, the extreme Arizona heat alone can aggravate pain, simply by placing more stress on the body and making us more irritable and sensitive to discomfort.

Becoming dehydrated, which can happen quickly in the heat, can make things even worse because our joints need fluid to move smoothly.

What can you do to stay as comfortable as possible until things cool off? Try these tips.

If youre struggling with joint pain, the medical professionals at OrthoArizona can work with you to get back to enjoying the activities you love.

Yeah But What Can We Do With All This Beautiful Knowledge

Theres some lovely science here, but is it useful? Can we apply it? Can any of this knowledge help pain as well as tickle your brain? Maybe.

There are, of course, many possible clinical implications of the proteins of pain. But for our purposes here well focus on one of the big ones, spice therapy, the use of capsaicin to manipulate sensation mediated by TRPV1 receptors.

The general idea here is that capsaicin can trigger TRPV1 receptors with a strong but relatively harmless stimulus. That main idea breaks down into four more specific ones that have been used to explain capsaicin as a pain medication. They correspond roughly to dosage and the intensity of burning pain produced:

  • Mild Small doses of capsaicin can feel pleasantly warm, simulating a heating pad with biochemistry. This is the most basic rationale for spicy body rub products like A535: they just feel nice. Heat you can apply wherever you like and walk around with easily is just more convenient that stuffing a hot water bottle into your shirt.
  • Medium Capsaicin in a dose high enough feel to like a mild burn and we know that this is literally what it feels like may be a particularly good way to distract the nervous system because of the unique combination of safe but intense sensation.
  • Insane! Capsaicin in large doses is a mild neurotoxin, which may produce a more profound effect, shrivelling TRPV1-containing nerve endings like salted slugs.
  • Illustration by Paul Ingraham.

    Don’t Miss: Exercise For Lower Back Pain Mayo Clinic

    Mistake #7 Stopping All Or Most Activities

    Resting for a few days is fine. However, staying inactive for a long period of time will actually make your pain worse.

    Its important to keep your neck and back muscles strong and flexible. Gentle stretching can hasten the healing process and minimize your chances of future injuries.

    Neck muscles dont get much exercise from normal daily activities. See the list below for stretches that can help to treat and prevent some of the symptoms you may be experiencing:

    What Is Heat Useful For

    Smoking Makes Back Pain Worse

    Heat is useful for relieving:

    • osteoarthritis
    • tendonitis, or chronic irritation and stiffness in the tendons
    • warming up stiff muscles or tissue before activity
    • relieving pain or spasms relating to neck or back injury, including the lower back

    Applied to the neck, heat may reduce the spasms that lead to headaches.

    In 2006, a team of researchers found that patients with lower back pain who exercised and use continuous low-level heat wrap therapy experienced less pain than those who did not use CLHT.

    Previous studies had shown that, for some people, CLHT relieved pain more effectively than oral analgesics, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen.

    However, the effectiveness of heat treatment may depend on the depth of the tissue affected by the pain or injury.

    Some people use heat treatment, often in the form of a hot bath, to stave off DOMS.

    There is some evidence that this might help, but heat that is applied for only 5 to 20 minutes may be less effective, as does not have the chance impact the deeper levels of tissue.

    Some researchers have that moist chemical heat packs, which can be used for 2 hours, may be the best way to prevent DOMS through heat treatment.

    Don’t Miss: Advil Good For Back Pain

    Is Ice Better Than Heat Is Heat Better Than Ice

    Ideal uses of ice and heat are roughly equal in potency which isnt very potent. Neither is strong medicine. Some experiments have shown that both have only mild benefits, and those benefits areroughly equal in treating back pain.7 The reason to use them is not that they are highly effective treatments they rarely are but because they are so cheap, easy, and mostly safe, especially compared to many other popular treatments.8

    Ice Vs Heat For Injuries: How Do I Know Which Is Best

    Home / News / Ice vs. Heat for Injuries: How Do I Know Which Is Best?

    Everyone experiences pain. Whether its a headache, a torn ligament, a sprained ankle or sore muscles, pain is just a fact of life for many people. Pain is our bodys way of telling us when something is wrong, whether its a new injury, a medical condition or the result of a long day on our feet. However, pain is not something anyone needs to tolerate.

    Whatever the reason for pain, one undeniable fact remains: No one wants to be in pain. And, while modern medicine has produced a lot of reliable medications that are designed to help with various levels of pain, its not always necessary, or appropriate, to rely solely on medication to correct the problem.

    Thats where ice and heat therapies come in. Depending on the source of your pain arthritis, a new injury or a grueling workout ice, heat or both can go a long way toward relieving your pain and improving the overall quality of your life.

    You May Like: Back Pain Advil

    Dr David Julius Versus The Spice

    The first of the Nobel proteins is often called the capsaicin receptor, because it reacts to the active ingredient in chili pepper. It was discovered by looking for the genes that cells need to make that receptor. His lab tested many genes, until they found one that could, when expressed in cultured cells, make them sensitive to capsaicin.21 It was 1997, and this was all much more difficult and tedious back then.

    This proteins true and full name is Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily V Member 1, or TRPV1 for short. And it doesnt just respond to spice. It also responds to scalding heat which is why spicy and hot are literally the same sensation, just with different significance. The day that was noticed, someone in that lab surely said, loudly, Holy shit! Probably all of them. Thats how scientists say eureka these days.

    Its weird and fun that this one receptor detects two kinds of heat.

    And TRPV1 has more tricks up its intricately folded sleeve. Its a gifted protein that also reacts to the active ingredients in mustard and wasabi, to acidic conditions, to inflammatory molecules, and to some cannabinoids, like anandamide .

    So what does TRPV1 do? Lots.

    Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Ice Your Back Immediately After Exercise To Reduce Muscle Soreness

    Ice Or Heat For Back Pain Relief & Injury?

    Muscle soreness and back pain can occur from extensive workouts, trying a new type of work out, or even from excessive walking. Soreness from these activities may start on the first day but typically continues to peak until the third day.4 This phenomenon is called delayed onset muscle soreness and can cause significant inflammation and pain in your back.

    When you have back pain from exercise or exertion, use cold therapy immediately after the activity to reduce tissue damage, inflammation, and pain. After a 24-hour period, use heat therapy to encourage tissue healing.4

    Recommended Reading: Does Aleve Help With Back Pain

    Sleeping With A Heating Pad

    Your back hurts so you crawl into bed, feel the warmth on your back, and you drift off into a cozy sleepy state, hoping your pain will melt away by morning.

    The more heat the better right? WRONG! Sleeping with anything electrical under your back is a safety hazard you can burn yourself and even risk an electrical fire.

    Even worse, there are no proven benefits to using a heating pad for more than 30 minutes.

    INSTEAD Try applying a cream or ointment that contains camphor or menthol such as Icy Hot or Bengay. These can be applied at night to help relax the muscles and ease pain while you drift away to dreamland.

    When To Use Heat And When To Use Ice

    Keep in mind that heat isnt recommended for every type of back pain. It can relieve chronic pain and stiffness, such as those associated with arthritis and other muscle or joint ailments.

    However, if your back injury is recent, cold therapy is more effective because it restricts blood vessels and reduces swelling, which can dull pain.

    Use cold therapy for the first 24 to 48 hours after an injury, and then switch to heat therapy to stimulate blood flow and healing.

    Also Check: Will Aleve Help With Back Pain

    Is Heat Better Than Cold For Lower Back Pain

    Heat or cold can be used for low back pain, and both can be helpful. There is no evidence that one modality works better than the other. It is recommended that you first apply cold several times a day for up to 20 minutes. After several days of cold applications, apply heat such as from a heating pad to relax muscles and increase blood flow.

    Sciatic Nerve Pain And Summer

    5 Types of Therapies to Help You Recover from Back Pain ...

    Many people complain of greater back pain in the winter, when cold weather can chill you to the bone and make muscles tighter. But, for those who have pain of the sciatic nerve, the summer months may be just as unpleasant. While it may seem strange that direct heat from a heating pad can give you some relief for sciatic nerve pain but hot weather can have the opposite effect, its due to a couple of factors:

    Recommended Reading: Aleve And Back Pain

    Abused Term #: Pain Receptors

    Some people will call these proteins and their host nerves pain receptors, but thats definitely oversimplifying things dramatically, to the point of error .

    Pain is not a thing in the world to be detected. Even the output of nociceptors is not yet pain, let alone the input.

    Proteins transduce the stimuli, they dont interpret it. The nerve cells pass the message along, but they dont editorialize.

    How To Loosen Tight Lower Back Muscles Using Heat Therapy

  • In most cases, applying heat to the painful area for up to 20 minutes an hour will help.
  • For more severe injuries, you may need to apply the heating pad to the low-, mid- or upper back for 30 minutes to two hours. In such cases, you should probably buy a reusable heating pad for back pain that wraps around the body.
  • Always place multiple layers of towels between your skin and the heat source to prevent burns.
  • Your heat belt should be at a warm temperature, not a hot one that could decrease comfort/burn skin.
  • You can use a heating pad to help with low-back pain during pregnancy, so long as you do not apply heat directly to the belly.
  • Also Check: Advil Or Tylenol For Back Pain

    RELATED ARTICLES

    Most Popular