Hot and Cold Therapy

Heat Vs Cold For Injury

Whether they are caused by an injury or a chronic condition, aches and pains in your body can make it difficult to live life to the fullest and to rest comfortably at night. Often, doctors recommend hot and cold therapy products to ease discomfort associated with chronic body pains and pain due to injuries. CVS can help you find products to simplify hot and cold therapy. This product selection includes a huge number of solutions that you can browse online and have delivered to your door.

Cold Therapy Benefits

Cold therapy decreases blood flow to the affected area, providing a number of benefits. By reducing blood flow, cold therapy can ease swelling and inflammation associated with an injury or a chronic condition. Cold compresses can also slow bleeding, making them great for first aid for minor cuts and wounds. Plus, cold compresses numb the treated area to temporarily relieve pain.

Best Cold Packs

For cold therapy, you can choose a number of different products. You can purchase packs that you fill with ice cubes as well as packs that you can place in the freezer and reuse again and again. Single-use packs are also available. These packs grow cold when you crack them and can be thrown away after use. Patches, ointments, creams and rubs are also available for cold therapy.

Hot Packs Benefits

Hot therapy increases blood flow to the treated area, so it provides different benefits than cold therapy. Primarily, hot therapy is used to ease circulation to the muscle tissue in order to ease stiffness and tightness. Hot compresses can also alleviate painful muscle spasms. Generally, experts recommend not using hot therapy until at least 48 hours after an injury occurs.

Heat Therapy Products

Electric heating pads are commonly used for hot therapy. You can also purchase a reusable rubber hot water bottle to fill with warm water or reusable wraps and packs that you heat in the microwave. As with cold therapy, you can purchase single-use patches, ointments, creams and rubs to administer heat therapy.

Best Heat Therapy And Best Cold Therapy

Although you can purchase hot and cold therapy products without a prescription from a doctor, it's important that you consult a medical professional before you use any type of external pain relief product. A health care provider can determine if you need additional interventions beyond hot and cold therapy and recommend the right products for you to use for relief. Make sure that you read the directions for use provided by the manufacturer and follow them closely for best results unless you receive other advice from your medical provider.

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