Is Your Back Pain Increasing? Use Hot and Cold Therapy For It!

Lower back pain can be physically debilitating and limit your mobility. While oral medications, topical creams or sprays can help in reducing pain, there are other remedies you can try on your own. Hot and cold therapy can be simple, inexpensive, handy adjunct to the ongoing treatments. Before we move on these individually it is important to note that the evidence base to support the use of heat and cold for low back pain is limited. There is some evidence that heat wrap therapy provides a small short-term reduction in pain and disability in people recent-onset low back pain.With regards to cold the evidence is insufficient to evaluate the effects on low back pain.

Heat therapy for lower back pain
Heat therapy can dilate blood vessels and improve circulation within the tissues resulting in pain reduction. Heat therapy will loosen up muscles and help soothe sore areas. Every week I see a few patients with burn marks over there back and it is important not to underestimate the likelihood of injury and take all reasonable precautions to avoid this.

Some of the techniques that can be applied are:

1. Heat wraps: These are specially manufactured belts or wraps which wrap around your abdomen and keep tightness and pressure on your lower back as well as supply heat.

2. Electric heating pads: These are electrically generated heating pads which generate heat. Please ensure that you don’t keep these for too long as they could burn your skin.

3. Hot Compress with towels or hot water bags: Use a clean towel and heat it over a conductive surface and apply it on your lower back. You can also use hot water bags for the same purpose. Apply a heating pad on the sore/stiff areas for up to 20 minutes - Use optimal, bearable temperature to avoid skin burns.

4. Disposable heats patches

5. Warms showers or baths can help to ease stiffness.

Cold therapy for lower back pain -
Contrary to heat therapy, cold therapy acts by reducing blood flow to the affected area and numbing the nerve endings, thereby reducing the perception of pain. Cold diminishes inflammation and oedema and is a useful therapeutic tool.

Some of the ways these can be administered are mentioned below.

1. Ice towel: In this method, soak a towel in ice cold water, wring it to dry it and then apply on your lower back. This will numb the pain without transferring the sting of the cold or damaging your skin. Alternatively, a cold wrap with ice cubes can be applied to the painful area for about 15 to 20 minutes. This can be repeated if required after a break of a few hours.

2. Ice packs: Put about half a kg of ice in a plastic Ziploc bag and pour water over the ice to just about cover it. Push out the air out of the bag and then lock it. Use this ice pack with a towel to ensure that your back doesn't get wet.

3. Ice gel packs: These are ready made packs, which can be bought from medical stores and kept frozen to be used whenever you need it in order to relieve lower back pain. These won't leak and stay cold for longer period.