Heat vs. Ice

 

Heat vs. ice: which works best for treating injuries?

Heat vs. Ice … It may sound like the title of an upcoming blockbuster movie, but it’s a question most active people have mulled over during their life after they’ve sustained an injury. Like most dilemmas, there isn’t really an easy answer to this question. Whether to treat an injury with a hot pad or an ice pack depends largely on the situation.
 

Ice

How cooling an injury works

Applying ice or a cold pack works by reducing blood flow and pain sensation to a particular area. Cooling an injured area, especially a tendon or joint, can reduce inflammation and swelling that causes pain.

When is it best to apply ice to my injury?

Ice is meant to calm down damaged surface tissues that are inflamed, red, hot and swollen. Think of icing as a way to simply dull the pain, and reduce inflammation, nothing more or nothing less. Ice therapy is most beneficial in the first 24-72 hours of sustaining an injury.

After you’ve sustained your injury, you should aim to apply ice to the inflamed area as soon as possible.

Use cold therapy for short periods of time, several times a day.

It’s important not to treat an area with ice for too long. Ten to fifteen minutes is fine, but no more than 20 minutes of cold therapy should be used at a time.

Also, don’t cool an area to the point where you are shivering. If you are already shivering, you should discontinue applying ice until you warm up. The brain interprets an excess of cold as a threat and when the brain thinks there’s something wrong going on it may actually amp up your area of pain as a defense mechanism.
 

How to apply cooling therapy

Before you apply ice or a cooling pack to the injured area, always make sure there is some sort of barrier between the ice and your skin. Whether it be a Ziploc bag or a washcloth, it’s imperative that the barrier exists. Applying ice directly on the skin can cause damage to the skin and tissues. 

Heat

How applying heat to an injury works

Heat therapy works by improving circulation and blood flow to a particular area. Heating an affected area can soothe discomfort, increase muscle flexibility and help heal damaged tissue.

When is it best to apply heat to my injury?

Heat therapy is most effective for sore muscles, chronic pain and repetitive stress injuries. A comfortable, not scalding, heat can take the edge off symptoms like muscle aching and stiffness.  Heat can be most beneficial 36-72 hours after the injury is sustained.

How to apply heat therapy

When applying heat therapy to a small, afflicted area you could use small heated gel packs or a hot water bottle.

There are certain cases where heat therapy should not be used. If the area is bruised or swollen, it may be better to use an ice pack. Heat therapy also shouldn’t be applied to an area with an open wound.

Heat therapy, unlike cold therapy, is most beneficial when used for long periods of time.

Minor stiffness can benefit with only 15 to 20 minutes of heat therapy. Moderate to severe pain can benefit from longer sessions of heat therapy lasting between 30 minutes and two hours.

Headaches and The Role Your Diet Plays

Migraines are one of the top disabilities in young adults across the globe. 14 per cent of the population suffers from migraines and like most aches and pains, we often tend to reach for quick fixes. Although things like pain meds, peppermint oil and manual therapies may help in the moment, it’s always better to tackle the source of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. Rather than asking how you can get rid of pain, try asking why you’re experiencing it instead.

Growing up, I believed headaches were normal as myself and everyone in my immediate family experienced them regularly. Now, as a chiropractor, I’ve realized that while some of us identify as “headache people," there are many lucky enough to rarely, if ever, experience headaches. The best explanation I’ve heard around this has been coined the “bucket theory." Imagine that within our brain we all have a bucket. When your bucket overflows, you experience a migraine and “headache people” tend to have particularly small buckets. So, what makes the bucket overflow? Can I increase the size of my bucket? First off, stimulus and inflammation contribute to “bucket overflow," and therefore, a migraine. Overstimulation can be caused by weather, pressure changes, stress, food or environmental intolerances, bright lights and noise, hormonal imbalances and musculoskeletal stressors. While we may not have control over things like the weather, or how bright the fluorescents in our workplace are, there are some things we can control. What many of us fail to realize is just how much of an influence the things we put into our bodies has on our wellbeing. When I ask a headache sufferer what their diet is like, the reaction I get is often shock for being asked that by their chiropractor. This is always one of the questions I ask because the food we eat influences our hormones, our pH, our mood, our energy and yes, our “buckets." 

To begin, we need to identify potential foods or environmental factors that could be overflowing your “bucket." By identifying and eliminating potential contributors, you can free up space in your “bucket," meaning you will be less sensitive to stimuli that can bring on a headache. The easiest way to do this is by tracking both your food and your headaches. Yes, this may be a tedious task, but it can be extremely helpful in identifying habits that you may not be aware of. I’ve had multiple patients identify their headache triggers with this step alone. When considering environmental factors, try noting down where you are when you begin to experience your headache symptoms. Remember to note details such as recently used cleaning and beauty products, chemical sprays and lighting at your workplace. When I was a teenager, I remember trying out a new shampoo with a distinct smell. I noticed I was experiencing nausea and headaches following showers. It was tracking this pattern that allowed me to identify that the shampoo was the culprit. 

When it comes to diet, most of us are creatures of habit and tend to eat similarly most days of the week. However, if you’re experiencing consistent headaches and you’ve not noticed any patterns with environment tracking, it’s a good idea to track food next. I typically suggest seven straight days of tracking all food and beverages along with headache symptoms. If you are a female suffering from headaches, be sure to also track your menstrual cycle. For many women, headaches coincide with menstruation due to low levels of progesterone and estrogen.
Once you have tracked a full seven days of food and symptoms, it is time to start identifying patterns. For many migraine sufferers, the most common dietary culprits are amines, additives and chemicals. Dietary amines are a result of the breakdown of proteins in food and are found in many processed meats, aged cheeses, fermented foods and beverages like beer and wine and dried or very ripe fruits. It is thought that “headache people” lack the enzymes required to properly break down specific amines, so eliminating these foods for four weeks is often recommended. Now for some light at the end of the tunnel—the word amine is a category involving histamine, tyramine and a few others. That said, when you reach the reintroducing phase (after four weeks of elimination), I suggest researching which specific amines are present in the foods you find yourself reacting to and this will help you determine a more specific grouping to avoid instead of avoiding all amines.

 When it comes to chemicals and additives in food, we tend to be more familiar with these offenders because they’ve already been given a bad reputation. It’s not a coincidence that many headache sufferers also experience digestive issues, irritable bowels and skin irritations or rashes. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame, high sodium and nitrites are some of the more prominent triggers that would be good to avoid if you experience any of the above symptoms. MSG is not only found in restaurants and fast-food joints, but is a common additive to many sauces, canned veggies and soups you likely have in your fridge or pantry. Aspartame in diet soda is another common trigger I see. Nitrites are most commonly found in processed meats like bacon and deli items.

Now that you have an idea of the common headache triggers, it’s time to begin tracking your food, identifying your problem ingredients and eliminating your triggers. Stay tuned for next month’s blog, “Five steps to identify and eliminate headache triggers.”

Supportive Maintenance - Chiropractic Treatment Works

Supportive Maintenance - Chiropractic treatment works!

A paper presented at the European Chiropractors' Union (ECU) convention underscores the advantages of regular chiropractic care. They looked at how chiropractic maintenance care (MC) could prevent new episodes of nonspecific low back pain or minimize its impact.

The multi-center, randomized clinical trial was conducted in Sweden, with patients provided with either treatment at regular intervals, regardless of symptoms (MC), or symptomatic treatment whereby patients were treated only when consulting for pain. The MC group was provided with chiropractic care at one to three month intervals.

This is an altogether familiar scenario, in that most patients only go for chiropractic care when they are in pain or when something is bothering them. Unfortunately, by the time a patient recognizes their pain, the problem may have been there for some time and damage has been done.  If only they would visit their chiropractor periodically, regardless of symptoms, a point the study’s results make glaringly clear:

"The MC group consisted of 163 subjects who reported 19.3 fewer days with bothersome LBP over the 12 month follow-up compared to the 154 subjects in the control group. The MC group had an average of 7 visits during the study, compared to 5 visits in the control group."

Let's Do the Math

So, here's the math for the average patient. Two extra visits to your chiropractor each year will result in almost 20 extra days without back pain. For me, that works out to about $4 per pain-free day ... I'll take it!

While monthly chiropractic care can be very beneficial, it is clear that most people should be seeing their doctor of chiropractic at least every two months or so. We all need to understand a little regular scheduling could significantly improve our quality of life. Imagine how many days of pain could be eliminated if everyone enjoyed chiropractic at least every two months.

For my whole career I have emphasized regular treatments and not chase pain. Don’t wait for small problems to become big ones. The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is supported by these types of studies.

To schedule your first appointment or a maintenance treatment, please contact Family First Chiropractic and Wellness.

Dr. Stephen Kelly is a Chiropractor at Family First Chiropractic and Wellness with over 18 years of experience,located in Red Deer, AB.

Call 403-347-3261 to book an appointment.

Common Myths About Chiropractic Treatment.

 Common Myths About Chiropractic Treatment:

Many Canadians have questions about the role that chiropractors play in the healthcare team, and what benefits chiropractic care has on their health. We will go through some common myths in this regard.

1. Once you see a chiropractor you have to keep going back This is false. When seeking care from a chiropractor, we will perform an assessment including a history and physical examination to determine the cause of the pain or dysfunction. From these observations, a diagnosis will be made and the treatment plan developed in collaboration with the patient – according to their needs and goals. The treatment plan will recommend a number of initial visits to remedy the patient’s symptoms/ pain and scheduled re-evaluations as necessary.. Depending on the patient and the condition, the recommended course of care may vary. Ultimately, the decision to continue care is yours. As a patient, if you have questions or concerns about care, you should feel comfortable to ask the chiropractor for more information on the recommendations made and address any concerns. The care plan should be part of a shared decision-making between the patient and practitioner.

2. Chiropractors are not ‘real’ doctors

Chiropractors are regulated in all 10 Canadian provinces, and are designated to use the title “doctor” similar to physicians, optometrists and dentists after completing the extensive Doctor of Chiropractic degree program. Those professions who are recognized to use the “doctor” title have extensive training in their area of expertise that allows them to be diagnosticians – to provide a diagnosis.

3. A medical doctor must refer you to a chiropractor In all provinces in Canada, chiropractors are primary contact providers, which means you can access them directly. Due to the extensive training of chiropractors as diagnosticians, chiropractors will perform a comprehensive assessment to help determine a diagnosis or clinical impressions. Depending on the outcome, the chiropractor can discuss a course of care or refer to another healthcare professional, as needed.

4. There is no evidence to support the effectiveness of chiropractic care Chiropractic treatment is at times questioned on its effectiveness. Yet, the chiropractic profession and others have invested significant resources to build a robust body of evidence studying the impact of manual therapies on musculoskeletal conditions. Spinal and joint manipulation has been shown to be effective treatment for acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions, like back pain. In fact, spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) is recommended as first line intervention for back pain in numerous clinical practice guidelines including the Bone and Joint Decade Task Force,, the American College of Physicians and American Pain Society, as well as Britain’s National Institute of Health and Care Excellence. Utilizing chiropractic treatment as opposed to medications like opioids for pain can be beneficial.

5. Chiropractors can only treat back pain Chiropractors are musculoskeletal experts and are trained in assessing, diagnosing, treating and preventing biomechanical disorders that originate from the muscular, skeletal and nervous system. In addition to the evidence that supports chiropractic care in managing musculoskeletal complaints of the spine, there is also evidence that it supports chiropractic management of the extremities, headaches and even TMJ pain. Chiropractors are also able to provide lifestyle counselling about nutrition, fitness and ergonomics among others that may be useful in managing or preventing a variety of health conditions. The health of your musculoskeletal system doesn’t just start with a healthy spine, you need to be fully aware of your health to maintain a well-rounded healthy lifestyle!

6. Adjustments are painful

In general, adjustments or joint manipulations do not hurt. In fact, many patients report immediate pain relief after chiropractic treatment.. Patients may be nervous about the ‘cracking’ or popping sound that may occur during an adjustment. The sound results from the release of gas from the joint – this is a normal part of the adjustment and is perfectly safe.

Asking questions about your health and treatment options is very important. You are a partner in your care and your participation is critical to helping us provide the best care to meet your health goals.

If someone you know needs chiropractic care for pain relief or just to function better, pass this along to them.

Don’t put things off until they worsen. Take care of your body now and discover how chiropractic can help you.

Dr. Stephen Kelly

Family First Chiropractic 403-347-3261