Heat Therapy

Heat therapy is a natural way to treat the pain or injury that has taken place. You can apply heat therapy with the help of hot water, hot cloth, heating pad, ultrasound, whirlpool baths and many other options. Such treatments are more effective on people having arthritis problem or those who have issues of stiff muscles or some kind of injuries to the deep tissue of the skin. Since centuries, heat therapy is regarded as an ability to increase the flow of blood and instigate healing.

Heat Therapy

What is Heat Therapy?

Heat therapy, also known as thermotherapy is a good source in the healing process. In cancer treatment, it is used for enhancing the other forms of therapy like chemo or radiation. Heat is applied to the affected area of the body along with other treatments. This gives a relief to the patient from that particular pain or infection.

Many athletes prefer to go for heat therapy as a natural and fast treatment against the injury. The reason for choosing this treatment is that heat treatment improves the elasticity of the joint’s tissues and also makes the blood flow smooth.

The therapy acts as a thermoreceptor stimulant. It functions as a responder to hot and cold stimulation and also blocks the body pain transmitters to reach the brain. This lessens the painful sensations.

Using Heat Therapy

Heat therapy is an old treatment which is still advised by many healthcare professionals. It is a natural pain killer which fights against different kinds of pain including:

  • Pain affiliated with the onset of arthritis
  • Sore muscles
  • Sprain
  • Joint strain
  • Menstrual cramps and pain
  • Back and muscle aches

Benefits of Heat Therapy

There are many advantages of heat therapy. Compared to any other pain killer, this therapy is inexpensive and can be applied at home for which no cost is involved like taking a hot bath. It is an easy way to get quick relief. You don’t have to go to a clinic or healthcare centre for heat therapy. It can be done at home while taking bath, relaxing or using portable heat wraps. Benefits of heat therapy are:

  • Minimizing stiffness
  • Increasing blood flow to the area which promotes healing
  • Decreasing muscle spasm
  • Pain killer

However, there are certain conditions or situations when you should not use heat therapy as it can make things worse. You should not apply therapy during:

  • Infections
  • DVT
  • Hyper or hypo-sensitive to heat
  • Malignant tumors
  • Sensory changes (cannot feel if it is too hot)
  • Circulatory problems
  • Heat injury
  • Acute phase of injury

Usually, this therapy is used if the injuries are chronic like sore, nagging muscles or joint pain. If you have any such chronic injury, then heat therapy is ideal for you. It not only gives pain relief, but also helps in relaxing the tight muscles. Make sure that you don’t apply heat soon after exercise. Once you are done with your workout, applying heat therapy can be risky.

Heat increases skin temperature and blood circulation. So make sure that you never apply heat therapy on acute injuries like tenderness, inflammation, burning sensation due to cuts. Try applying the heat on the injury after 15-20 minutes and use heating source for preventing burns.

How Heat Therapy Works?

Heat therapy opens the muscle’s blood vessels which surround the lumbar spine. This increases oxygen flow and nutrients reach the muscles at fast level and heal the damaged tissue. The pain signals get transferred to the brain through the lower back. Once the therapy is applied to the skin, it induces the sensory receptors of the skin and gives the patient relief from pain and discomfort.

As per research made, it is said that heat therapy treats the body’s problems naturally and quickly. The immune system gets improved and skin infection gets lessened due to such treatment. Patients having parasitic disease like cutaneous leishmaniasis get a good result for more than a year. However, research is still going on regional and local heat therapy which is said to be a standard treatment for cancers. How much effective this therapy can be as compared to radiation and chemo is not known yet. However, research is still going on its effectiveness.