What Is Better For Lower Back Pain Heat Or Cold?

Ice Or Heat For Lower Back Pain?

Warming up or cooling down tissues in the body can have potent effects. These methods have been used for centuries to relieve pain, decrease swelling, and promote overall healing.

Heat and ice, however, are not interchangeable, as each will exert its own actions on the tissue. When applied incorrectly, heat and ice can be unhelpful or even harmful at worst. Ice is generally best for acute lower back pain, while heat is best for chronic lower back pain.

Differences Between Ice And Heat For Back Pain

When deciding between heat and ice for your lower back pain, you must first understand what each method does to the underlying tissues. For example, inflammation is the result of thousands of inflammatory cells migrating to an inflamed area where inflammatory chemicals are released.

This cellular activity gives off heat, which is why inflamed tissue does feel warm. Inflammation can also irritate surrounding nerve fibers, resulting in discomfort. Ice, meanwhile, slows down the cellular and metabolic process, reducing both pain and inflammation.

How Does Heat Treat Lower Back Pain?

The heating of an area will cause tiny arteries and capillaries to dilate. The widening of blood vessels, known as vasodilation, will deliver more oxygen to the tissue, bringing more nutrients, proteins, and chemicals needing for the healing process. Heat can also relax tension in the muscles.

Both cold and heat can increase the pain threshold, meaning people are relatively resistant to painful stimuli. This effect can last up to 30 minutes with cold therapy, but only for a few minutes with heat therapy.

Lower Back Pain Issues

Once you have an understanding of how both heat and cold therapy work for pain and inflammation, it is easy to select which application is right for your specific pain issue.

Acute Lower Back Pain

For acute lower back pain, it’s suggested to try ice first, then heat. The area will become inflamed almost immediately after a back injury or strain. Placing an ice pack on the impacted area will impede the inflammatory process and numb nerve endings.

Cold therapy can also reduce muscle spasms. Inflammation will only occur for a brief period of time after the event that caused the back pain. Ice is undoubtedly most useful during the initial inflammatory period. Heat is the best option following the initial inflammatory process.

Chronic Lower Back Pain

While tissues can remain inflamed for weeks at a time, the inflammation will be highly localized to the injury. This means it will be difficult to access with cold therapy.

Heat therapy, meanwhile, can be applied daily for as long as the pain persists. Heat can reduce lower back pain and accelerate the healing process by delivering nutrients to the impacted tissues.

Ice Vs Heat Benefits

There are many benefits of using both cold and heat therapy for a variety of back ailments. Let’s look at a few of the pros associated with both treatment methods.

Heat Therapy

Here are a few reasons why people choose heat therapy for their back pain:

• Reduces pain.
• Increases metabolism.
• Reduces muscle spasms.
• Increases blow flood to impacted areas.

Cold Therapy

Cold therapy is desirable for the following reasons:

• Reduces pain.
• Reduces inflammation,
• Reduces swelling.
• Reduces muscle spasms.

When To Use Ice Or Heat For Back Pain

Always refrain from using heat and cold therapy over an open wound. This includes any infected or bloody areas.

People dealing with rheumatoid arthritis, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, or diabetes mellitus should cautiously use heat therapy. Cold therapy can provoke Raynaud’s phenomenon or slow down heart rate in susceptible individuals.