Hot/Cold Therapy

Standard therapy for injuries such as a sprain or strain - an injury in which you have stretched or torn a ligament, tendon, or muscle - is the PRICE technique, which stands for protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Cold packs are also used to help relieve headaches, foot pain, and longer-lasting conditions such as tendinitis and some kinds of back pain. Cold can also reduce swelling from inflamed joints in some forms of arthritis. Hot packs, heating pads, and heat lamps, can warm up the skin, muscles, and other tissues to a depth of about an inch below the surface of the skin. Deep heat treatments performed by a physical therapist use other kinds of energy, most often ultrasound but sometimes shortwave or microwave electromagnetic energy, to generate heat in tissues about two inches below the surface.