Bruises, Injuries and Pain - Do We Apply Ice Or Heat?

Everyone everywhere advises that bruises, injuries and pain should be treated with ice to reduce swelling. Firstly, consider that swelling increases circulation of nutrients to the area to cleanse damaged tissue, including cells, and heal the area. What sense does it make to reduce swelling when reducing swelling reduces nutrients and consequently reduces cleansing and healing.

Most often, when swelling and nutrients are reduced by applying ice, blood clots and scarring result. Scarring is dead mummified cells that are useless for creating energy and activity. Dead cells are dead bricks in the walls. Scar tissue reduces flexibility, agility and stamina. Most athletes who sustain an injury apply ice packs to reduce swelling and numb pain. They never heal properly and sustain multiple injuries to the same area. Many athletes' careers end because of such improperly cleansed and poorly healed injuries. Besides poor diets, their careers are cut short by the application of ice packs.

Applying HEAT is the best remedy for bruises, injuries and pain. Heat promotes relaxation of bones, cartilage, tendons, arteries, veins, muscles, nerves, connective tissue and skin, allowing even more nutrients into the area for increased and rapid healing. Heat also reduces pain that comes from pressure on the nerves in a tense area of the body, incurring swelling.

Once the area is heated, surrounding tissues relax and pain reduces considerably. Relaxing, stretching and expanding the space between tissues with heat, relieves pain. When applying heat, sometimes tendons, cartilage and ligaments take 5-15 minutes to relax and pain may temporarily increase until those tissues relax and expand. However, usually 85% of pain is relieved within 15 minutes of heat application.

However, if pain does not reduce to bearable, it is okay to apply ice for 1 minute or less without causing blood clots. Then reapply hot-water bottle. Alternat- ing heat and ice may be effective as long as the application of ice is less than 1 minute.

Since heating pads produce very high electro- magnetic fields that alter the molecular structure of animal cells, heating pads should not be used. Microwave packs deliver radiation with their heat and alter the molecular structure of animal cells and should not be used.

The safe heating apparatus is a rubber hot-water bottle. Non-rubber, synthetic hot-water bottles have less integrity and easily burst, wetting couches, lounges, chairs and beds. Rubber hot water bottles last for many years. Since new rubber has a strong odor that many people think unpleasant, placing the hot-water bottle outside in the sun for about 3 weeks reduces or eliminates rubber odor.

The temperature of hot water bottles for contact with bruises, injuries and pain should not make skin feel burned. If you want to use hot-water-bottle heat throughout the night, heat will generate longer the hotter the hot-water bottle but wrap the hot-water bottle in a towel or flannel pillow case to prevent burn. Bruises, injuries and pain that receive heat will cleanse and heal properly and quickly without scar- ring if the diet is health-giving. If not on a health- giving diet, heat will still improve cleansing and healing.