Lumbago/lower Back Pain: Which Is Better Ice Or Heat
Lumbago, or lower back pain: if youve ever suffered from it, then you know the intense pain and immobility it causes. If you have never suffered from it, with this article you will know how to lessen the discomfort it causes and avoid a future recurrence.
Welcome back to the Dispotech blog!
Today we will be discussing a health problem that can occur from time to time and is really unbearable: lumbago or lower back pain. If you have ever suffered from it, then you know the intense pain and immobility it causes. If you have never suffered from it, with this article you will know how to lessen the discomfort it causes and avoid a future recurrence.
Here is our advice, supported by an article read on css.ch. Have a great read!
Lumbago – the term most often used, but which is synonymous with sciatica or acute lumbar spine syndrome – is one of the most common pains which, sooner or later in life, can occur – and cause quite a few problems.
It isnt hard to recognise: it is sudden, occurs during common daily activities, causes intense pain and the inability to move the back . Despite the pain and discomfort it causes, you neednt worry too much: lumbago usually goes away on its own after a few days, without needing to consult a doctor.
Lumbago occurs when the subject has very tense and rigid back muscles. This can surely be due to an abrupt movement , but also to stress and particularly prolonged moments of fatigue.
Should I Use Ice Or Heat Therapy To Reduce My Lower Back Pain
There are many types of therapies that can bring pain relief to our lower back. Ice and heat are some of the most commonly used at-home therapies, yet often overlooked due to their ease and accessibility.
It is important to know that the appropriateness and benefits of applying ice or heat can vary and that every situation is unique. Start with an understanding of the type of lower back pain you are experiencing and its cause. This will help you determine if and when ice or heat should be used in order to get the most benefit and reduce pain.
When To Use Heat For Back Pain
After the inflammatory phase, the first 72 hours, you can start to introduce heat to the situation in most cases. However, in some cases, even after the first 72 hours, its still too early for heat. If you continue to have sharp pain, or have pain that radiates down your leg, do not use heat, its too early and you should continue to ice until these symptoms subside.
Generally speaking, heat is good option for chronic or long-term issues that present with dull and achy pain, as well as muscle tightness. Heat helps to increase pliability of tightened muscles and increases your flexibility, which in turn helps to decrease your pain and improve function.
As a general rule, you want to use heat for about 30 minutes at a time. Anything longer than 30 minutes, and you may start to notice increased inflammation and pain.
There are two different types of heat therapy: Dry heat and Moist heat.
Dry heat Easy to apply. Includes heating pads and dry heat packs.
Moist heat slightly more effective than dry heat, takes less time, however, its more difficult to apply. Includes moist heat packs, steamed towels, and hot baths.
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Tips When Using Heat And Ice Therapy
If you plan to regularly use heat and ice therapy, it can be helpful to have both options on hand. If you work out first thing in the morning, you can keep an electric heating pad plugged in by your bed. Wake up, get some heat on your back muscles, then dive into your workout routine. It can be helpful to keep a few different cool packs in the freezer so they will be ready for use whenever you need them. Cold showers and hot baths can also be a beneficial way of augmenting your go-to cold and heat therapies.
Whether you are doing individual cold or heat therapy or a combination of both, always remember to protect your skin. Set a timer for your therapy sessions to ensure you do not leave the ice or heat on your back for too long.
How Ice Works To Relieve Pain And Reduce Inflammation
Ice narrows the blood vessel lumen , which limits blood flow to your soft tissues.
The control of blood flow helps in pain control by reducing the flow of irritating chemicals that can flood the injury site. While these chemicals are a natural and useful response to inflammation, keeping them in check helps control pain.
Reduced blood flow also helps control excessive swelling.
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When Cold Can Help With Back Pain Due To Inflammation
Inflammation and swelling is part of the bodys natural response to injury, but once the threat has been neutralized and healing is underway, inflammation and swelling can actually increase pain. In these cases, ice acts to blunt the inflammatory response, which helps reduce swelling and calms the nerves around the injury site. Once the swelling has gone down, switching to heat therapy will likely be more helpful.
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When To Alternate Between Ice And Heat For Back Pain
Some back pain is caused by a variety of factors, including both muscles and the spine itself. This means that you may want to try both ice and heat for your back pain. The University of Michigan says, You may also want to try switching between heat and cold. Use heat for 15 to 20 minutes, then a few hours later use ice for 10 to 15 minutes.
Dr. Susan Baker explains this a bit further: In the case of icing and heating back muscles its important to note that although a hot shower might feel good, the heat might actually be increasing inflammation by opening up blood vessels. Icing and heating in combination breaks the cycles in which muscle spasms cause pain.
With these generalities in mind, lets examine some of the most common back pain causes and discuss whether heat or ice is preferable.
Ice Vs Heat For Lower Back Pain
For pain in your lower back, consider whether the pain may be caused by an injury, such as a pulled or strained muscle, or if it is chronic. For chronic pain, heat therapy might be best. Dry heat can be applied through a heating pad and moist heat by means of a warm bath or shower. Heat will relax those muscles.
But if your pain is caused by an injury, ice is the better option. In fact, heat may make your back pain worse.
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Be Proactive About Ice/heat Applications
In some instances, you may experience delayed muscle soreness if you overstretch your lower back muscles. This type of pain often develops gradually over a few days as tissue inflammation progresses. You can ward off inflammation by immediately applying ice after exercising or being active. After 24 hours, switch to heat applications to help overstimulated tissues heal.
Should You Use Dry Heat Or Moist Heat For Muscle Pain In Your Back
The answer to this question really comes down to your preference and whats most convenient. Dry heat tend to draw moisture out of the skin, leaving it dehydrated. But some prefer the sensation of dry heat and it is often the easier version to apply.
Moist heat, such as a hot bath, steamed towel or moist heating packs, can help heat to penetrate into muscles, bringing better results for some. But this can also be less convenient to apply and some do not like the mix of moisture and heat.
You may need to experiment to see what works best for relieving your back pain.
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Is Ice Or Heat Better For Back Pain
Back pain is a prevalent experience for most people at some point in their adult lives. Applying heat or ice is one of the tried-and-true methods of at-home treatment for back pain, but how do you know which method to use and when? Get to know how to use ice or heat for back pain and when to use both.
Types Of Lower Back Pain That Benefit From Heat Or Ice
- Chronic Conditions, such as: Herniated or Degenerated Discs, Spinal Stenosis, and Spondylolisthesis
- Sports injuries, sprains, falls, or something directly impacting your lower back
- Pulled back muscle from excessive strain or force
- Exercise induced muscle soreness from overdoing a specific exercise or exercising without warming up
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Dont Let Back Pain Hold You Back Find Out What To Use To Loosen Stiff Muscles At Home
There are many reasons hot and cold therapy are go-to methods to treat just about any form of soreness or injury to your body. They are easy, safe, inexpensive and environmentally-friendly ways of relieving pain that can be done from the comfort of your home. They also come without any of the side effects or risks that come with many other treatment options.
That said, cold and heat therapy also are not as potent as many other methods. And it can be tough to determine whether you should use heat or ice for back pain.
But dont fretthis post walks you through that decision-making process, helping you to determine what is good for your back pain ice or heat.
When Is Surgery Considered
Spinal surgery is usually not recommended unless you have not improved with other treatment methods such as stretching and medication, your pain is worsening, you have severe weakness in the muscles in your lower extremities or you have lost bladder or bowel control.
How soon surgery would be considered depends on the cause of your sciatica. Surgery is typically considered within a year of ongoing symptoms. Pain that is severe and unrelenting and is preventing you from standing or working and youve been admitted to a hospital would require more aggressive treatment and a shorter timeline to surgery. Loss of bladder or bowel control could require emergency surgery if determined to be cauda equine syndrome.
The goal of spinal surgery for sciatic pain is to remove the pressure on the nerves that are being pinched and to make sure the spine is stable.
Surgical options to relieve sciatica include:
Microdiscectomy: This is a minimally invasive procedure used to remove fragments of a herniated disk that are pressing on a nerve.
- Laminectomy: In this procedure, the lamina that is causing pressure on the sciatic nerve is removed.
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Search Methods For Identification Of Studies
Data Sources
The following sources were accessed and searched:
1. The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register
2. MEDLINE
3. EMBASE
4. CINAHL
5. PEDro
6. Back Review Group Specialised register
7. SPORTDiscus
8. OLDMEDLINE
Search strategy
The search strategy was based on that recommended by the Cochrane Back Review Group .
The search strategies for MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL are included as appendices . Search strategies for the remaining databases were adapted accordingly. We also screened references of identified articles.
So What Do You Do After A Back Injury
For back strain, people often use ice for the first 48 to 72 hours. Heat increases blood flow and inflammation, and it may not be a good idea at first
After those first few days, most experts recommend the use of either ice or heat, according to your preference. While researchers continue to look into the best ways to treat an acute injury, most doctors still recommend ice as the first line of defense for a back injury.
A 2011 review of studies published in the British Medical Journal Clinical Evidence evaluated 20 different categories of treatment to learn about their safety and effectiveness. Treatments included over-the-counter pain medications such as NSAIDs, acupuncture, McKenzie exercises , and temperature treatments.
The researchers were seeking answers to the following questions:
- What are the effects of oral drug treatments for acute low back pain?
- What are the effects of local injections for acute low back pain?
- What are the effects of non-drug treatments for acute low back pain?
As far as temperature studies go, the review found moderate-quality evidence that using a heat wrap 5 days after the injury may relieve pain. Just the same, the authors cited that overall they did not find enough evidence to judge the effectiveness of any type of temperature treatment.
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Should I Use Heat Or Cold For Sciatica
The answer is, it depends. When it comes to using heat or cold for sciatica treatment you must first get the pain properly assessed. Given the two different types of sciatica its essential that you first determine the origin of the pain. Only then will you know whether to use heat or ice to treat your sciatica.
As there are several different condition types that produce sciatic pain so its essential you determine whether it is entrapment or compression first because the conditions are different and theyre treated differently.
If youve got an entrapment type sciatica and youre treating it as compression or vice-versa, then it wont get better. In fact, its more likely to get worse. So use our pain assessment tool to find the likely cause of your pain. Youll get a treatment guide full of expert advice included in the price.
Ice Or Heat For Injuries
There are 2 primary reasons why you might be considering the use of ice or heat. The first reason is if youre trying to increase tissue healing.
When it comes to tissue healing, neither modality is likely to expedite your recovery. This is supported by the research, or lack thereof.
There are some YouTube videos that suggest icing actually impairs or delays recovery based on a study titled, Influence of icing on muscle regeneration after crush injury to skeletal muscles in rats. However, this cannot be generalized to something like an ankle sprain in humans.
Heat and ice do have risks, but are unlikely to be harmful when applied appropriately for short durations.
The recommendation against ice may be appropriate if its accompanied by complete rest because movement and exercise influence healing.
In the case of an acute ankle sprain, you might reduce your amount of standing and walking for a short period of time to help protect the injured tissues. However, some movement is usually beneficial to reduce swelling and improve function.
The other big picture things that matter for tissue healing are sleep, stress levels, alcohol intake, smoking status, nutrition, and your general health.
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Start With Cold Therapy For Acute Back Pain
If you’ve had your back pain for four weeks or less, using cold therapy initially is likely your best bet. By bringing the temperature down, you can constrict blood vessels and simultaneously minimize swelling and information. You’ll be left with a numbing effect that hopefully offers relief.
Once you’ve noticed an improvement in your inflammation, transition to heat therapy. The heat can help with flexibility, muscle movement, and overall functioning. It will deliver nutrients to the injured tissues and allow you to feel better.
What Back Problems Can Be Helped By Heat & Ice Therapy
Hot and Cold therapy is often one of the first things a doctor will recommend and for good reason. It is cheap, readily available, and has little side effects other than a cold or warm backside.
Doctors often recommend ice or heat therapy for:
- A pulled lower back muscle
- A physical injury to the lower back
- Recurring back pain from lower back conditions
- Muscle soreness due to exercise
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Can I Use Heat Therapy
Heat therapy can be very beneficial, especially in cases where people are suffering from chronic pain. It is relatively easy and inexpensive to use and typically provides quick, noticeable results. However, it is important to note that heat therapy can be dangerous if you have a preexisting health condition, such as dermatitis, diabetes, vascular disease, multiple sclerosis or deep vein thrombosis. Individuals with heart disease or hypertension also should avoid it. If you are pregnant, youll want to talk with your doctor before using a sauna or hot tub for heat therapy.
While we briefly mentioned it before, its also important to note you should avoid using heat therapy if your pain is coming from an open wound or an area of your body thats swollen or bruised. Its just not the right treatment for these issues and could potentially cause problems because there are certain conditions such as swelling where it may not be good to increase circulation to the affected area.
