People have long been confused about using ice or heat for pain and injury. Almost every knows to put an ice pack over a newly sprained ankle. But for back? That’s a different story. Recently, some researches have come out that stated a heat pack is better than ice pack for most injury and pain. However, experience dictates that it is not as simple as that.

An ice pack to lower inflammation, decrease swelling and pain to a brand-new injury is a common knowledge. However, sometimes a heat pack is applied to a fresh injury because it is not an ankle or knee injury. Almost everyone applies heat pack to a brand-new neck or back injury, which actually makes the injury worse.

If heat is applied to a brand new injury (less than 48 hours old), the increased temperature increases blood flow, causing the injury to become more swollen and inflamed, which in turn causes the acute stage of the injury to last longer and increase pain. It is noted that most anti-inflammatory medication for acute injury works like a chemical ice pack, which reduces inflammation.

So, it would be safer to choose ice pack over hot pack for a brand new injury, such as back strain from lifting a heavy weight or pulled shoulder from throwing a ball too hard. If the injury is constantly painful, throbbing, and warmer than the nearby body part to touch, then it is most likely inflamed and you would need to ice it down. Typically ice pack is applied over clothe for up to 20 min and repeated every hour, for up to 5 to 6 times per day.

Then when is a hot pack appropriate? Hot pack is better for subacute or chronic injury, where there isn’t much inflammation and increase blood flow is desired to reduce muscle spasm and increase temperature. A mild to moderately stiff low back muscles without recent injury is a good example. But it can be applied to almost every part of the body that hasn’t been hurt recently that needs some loosening up. A hot pack is applied at the same frequency as an ice pack.

A hot pack can be moist heat pack or dry heating pad such as an electrical heating pad. Most heat penetrates deeper and therefore it is the choice for most professional settings. However, some electric heating pads now have technology to produce moist heat also.

Sometimes there are situation that require some thinking on our part when deciding between an ice or heat pack. If you have a chronic pain that you usually benefit from a heat pack, but if you have just injured that body part – then you would need to apply an ice pack. If you have a body type that absolutely cannot tolerate cold temperature – even if you had a new injury, you may benefit from a heat pack. Also, most arthritis pain improves with heat pack, even if arthritis is an inflammatory condition. When applying any treatment, even something as trivial as heat or ice pack – individuality needs to be considered. If you cannot figure out which one to use, seeking professional opinion is advised.