Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka's Use of Hot/Cold Therapy

In office, we have the ability to use an array of therapies to assist your spine in healing. Depending on your symptom, one or more of the following may be suggested:

Cryotherapy (Cold Therapy)

Purpose: Cold therapy stimulates vasoconstriction, the narrowing of blood vessels to slow down blood circulation in an area.

• Cold therapy reduces pain and swelling after an injury.
• It is the preferred therapy for spinal pain within the first 72 hours.
• Cold reduces the flow of fluid into tissues and stunts the chemicals that inflame and cause pain.
• Cold reduces swelling and bleeding and nerve ending conduction of pain impulses.
• Deep tissue cooling with ice diminishes muscle spasm by lowering muscle contraction.

Note: If you have circulation issues, can’t feel cold or are allergic to cold, ice may not be the recommended therapy for you and may not be used.

Application: A towel is always placed between you and the cold pack. Since inflammation and pain often accompany acute injury in the first 72 hours after an injury, ice only may be applied. Ice alleviates inflammation and numbs the pain in short spurts like 10 minutes at a time.

Thermotherapy (Heat Therapy)

Purpose: Heat therapy fosters vasodilation, the enlarging of blood vessels to bring more blood to an area.

• Heat is generally sedating due to its nature to lower the transmission of pain signals and relax tense muscles.
• Heat opens blood vessels near a painful area, adding oxygen and nutrient flow to the muscles which aids in healing damaged tissue.
• Heat also reduces stiffness and increases flexibility which is extremely important in a healthy back to help you regain your quality of life.

Application: In office, hot packs may be used on your spine with a towel around them for 10 to 30 minutes.

Purpose: Combining cryotherapy and thermotherapy is often preferred. This generates stimulation of blood flow by bringing blood into a swollen and painful area with heat and pushing out the blood with an ice pack application.

Application: For nearly all of the patients coming to our office, a 10 minute hot/10 minute cold/10 minute hot routine is used. This routine is known as the Hunting’s Effect whereby too long an ice session reflexively pushes the blood back into the swollen area causing more pain. Hunting’s Effect is useful to the body when you may find yourself in trouble of severe cold, but not when trying to regulate pain and inflammation. Heat eases muscles and joints and cold drives out inflammation. A balance of the two is best.

Purpose: Often this hot/cold/hot therapy is used along with electrical stimulation which is doubly-effective for your pain management. This generates stimulation of blood flow by bringing blood into an irritated and painful area with heat and pushing out the blood with ice pack application and nerve pain sedation with electrotherapy.

Application: Typically each modality with cryotherapy or thermotherapy is 10 minutes each but may change depending on your condition.