Do you often have joint pain related to arthritis in your joints? Or did yesterday's walk leave your knee stiff? Or did you simply trip and bang your knee? When these aches and pains occur, the common remedy is to reach for the heating pad or ice pack.
These techniques can be effective for a short term pain or ache, and also for chronic arthritis pain. The issue is to know when to use cold therapy and when to use hot
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Some products, such as the Carex Bed Buddy Hot Cold Pack, can be either heated or chilled.
Heat for Joint Pain
Simply, heat relaxes the body. That is the reason we usually opt for a hot bath at the end of a long day. Stiff, sore, and tense muscles can be loosened with heat. And arthritic joints also can be loosened up considerably with heat therapy. The heat not only relaxes surrounding muscles, it also increases blood flow and boosts circulation. In turn, this will increase your joints' range of motion.
Cold for Joint Pain
If your arthritis pain feels more like burning in the joint, this is when you want to use an ice bag, or a similar product such as. Cold therapy will reduce your inflammation, which is a major reason that arthritis pain occurs. The cold pack also will reduce swelling in the joint, which reduces pain.
How to Use Heat and Cold Therapy
Do not apply a hot pack to a joint that feels hot and irritated. Also, do not apply cold to a joint that feels stiff and is not moving easily. Overall, remember that heat relaxes the muscles, and cold reduces inflammation and pain.
Depending upon whether your joint pain needs hot or cold, consider Wright Stuff products to keep you moving pain free:
MediBeads King Pad - for delivering moist heat to sore joints.
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