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Why You Shouldn't Ever Apply Heat To Your Aches And Pains

Written by: Dr. Paul Lanthois

Article Overview: Incorrect management of aches, pains and injuries can also cause severe pain to the balance sheet of many companies through the days at work lost to key individuals. Unfortunately a commonly used and commonly prescribed treatment for aches and pains can aggravate and prolong your pain and time off work...

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Why You Shouldn't Ever Apply Heat To Your Aches And Pains

If you had any doubt about how much pain can suck the energy right out of you, you only needed to look at Graham. At the age of 39, he was bent over in agony and shuffling along like an old man. Even his face was wrinkled from the continual wincing in pain. I helped him to lie face down on the table so I could examine his inflamed lower back. As I felt his inflamed lower back I exclaimed "Oh no!" in exasperation. "You've been putting heat packs on your back, haven't you?"

"Yeah" Graham replied in a tone that suggested "That's what I'm meant to do". Trying to maintain a calm exterior I let out an inner cry of frustration as I realized that yet again, my job of helping someone recover from his injury has just been made a lot harder.

"Are you aware that you are meant to use ice and not heat? The heat actually increases the inflammation and makes things worse."

"I have always been told that that you should put heat on when it's muscular" objected Graham.

"When you see the footy players injure a muscle, what do you see them do on the sidelines? Do they apply a heat pack or ice?"

"Ice" replied Graham, beginning to see the error in his ways but he was still confused.

"But if heat is so bad for you why does it feel better when you apply heat."

"It feels better because you feel the heat instead of the pain. Its just like if you hit your hand on something you immediately grab your hand and rub it. You feel the rubbing instead of the pain. But the problem is that the heat actually increases the underlying inflammation."

Graham was beginning to understand. "So you are saying that those heat creams designed to treat arthritis and pains don't really work?"

"They are a classic example of treating the symptom and not the cause. Let's think about it for a moment... Arthritis actually means inflamed joint. What are the signs of inflammation?"

"Pain and swelling" Graham answered.

"And muscle spasm, redness and heat. So how could applying more heat effectively reduce arthritis?"

"It doesn't make sense, does it?" Graham stated.

"You're absolutely right. Adding heat in the form of heat packs or heat creams to an inflamed area does not make any sense," I confirmed.

I can understand that it is confusing when many physicians and therapists incorrectly recommend that you use heat. Although their advice may temporarily mask your pain you will end up being in more pain for longer.

If you are in pain right now, what do I recommend?

USE ICE. If you are in doubt, always use ice. At worst it will do nothing, at best it will help massively.

It is best to wrap ice in a wet towel and apply it to the injured area for about twenty minutes.(This is to ensure that you don't burn your skin by getting it too cold) Reapply it every hour.

I really like to use those ice gel packs that are still flexible when frozen. They drip a lot less than ice and are easier to apply to the injured areas. An added bonus is that they lose their coldness after about twenty minutes so you don't have to keep a close eye on the clock.

Other options are cooling creams and those cooling sprays if you can't be walking around with ice packs strapped to you. But what is most important is if you injure or sprain a part of your body avoid the heat and KEEP COOL.

Remember...BEAT THE HEAT. ICE IS NICE.

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Home > Work-Life > Dr. Paul Lanthois > Why You Shouldnt Ever Apply Heat To Your Aches And Pains
Article Tags: agony, arthritis, doubt, exasperation, frustration, heat pack, heat packs, inflammation, job, muscle spasm, old man, sidelines, signs

About the Author: Dr. Paul Lanthois
RSS for Dr. Paul's articles - Visit Dr. Paul's website

Dr. Paul Lanthois is a chiropractor, speaker and work life balance expert. He is the director of The Work Life Balance Foundation which provides health, stress management and work-life balance lifestyle programs specifically for businesses and their employees. Dr. Lanthois has been a successful Australian chiropractor for nearly 20 years. He has spoken to many business and community groups such as Optus Telecommunications, St. George Bank and the SA Police Force. For two years Dr. Lanthois was the coordinator of health management at Action Coach (formerly Action International) Billionaire in Trainingï¿ Entrepreneur seminars. His academic background consists of: - A Masters of Chiropractic at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. - A Post Graduate Diploma of Chiropractic Sport Science, Macquarie University. - A Bachelor Science (majoring in Anatomy and Physiology), University of Adelaide. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the International Foundation For Nutrition and Health. Perhaps his most important qualification is that he successfully overcame his own energy burnout while managing two companies and raising a family and has developed a step-by-step proprietary process to recharge the weary and re-ignite the burned-out. Dr. Lanthois new book : From Burnout To Balance In 4 Weeks: The Business Health Program To Boost Morale and Productivity is due to be released in November, 2009.

Click here to visit Dr. Paul's website
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More from Dr. Paul Lanthois
The Health Impact Of Not Having Enough Sleep
How To Get Through Your Work Day When Sleep Deprived
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Put Life Into Your Work And Put Work Into Your Life
Why So Much Business Training And Development Goes To Waste


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