Top Features Of Cold Therapy To Help You Manage Chronic Pain

Top Features Of Cold Therapy To Help You Manage Chronic Pain

by Manish Singh

At some point in our lives, things will start to hurt, and we will experience pain. However, chronic pain is different. Your body will break for weeks or even years after you have injured yourself or have been diagnosed with an issue. It affects your life, your mental health, and it can cause long-lasting damage. Thankfully you and your doctor can work together to treat it and ensure that your pain will be manageable if not gone entirely.

What The Therapy Is

This type of therapy or cryotherapy is used by reducing the blood flow to particular areas. That will help relieve painful swelling and inflammation. When you are swollen near a joint or tendon, it can be excruciating, but the node begins to dissipate by applying cold. In other cases, it can reduce nerve activity which is another source of pain. One note to keep in mind is to speak with your doctor before doing this, as sensory issues can cause this to be a dangerous form of therapy. Diabetics, people with poor circulation, stiff muscles, and joints should also avoid this. Click here to learn more about it.

Reducing Swelling To Offer Relief

Because cold therapy will limit how much blood flow is reaching a particular area, you will be able to produce a numbing effect that works to reduce the swelling and works to slow down the pain signals that would be firing to your brain. You should limit this to fifteen minutes at a time to avoid burns and other issues. Athletes, in particular, will use cold therapy to reduce the swelling in overworked muscles and injuries. The treatment is said to speed up healing time by at least three days when it comes to the node. However, it can help with chronic pain because it gets the muscles and nerves to relax and unclench slowly, which offers momentary relief.

Cold Therapy Numbs Your Nerves

When cold therapy is used correctly and creates the numbing effect, you will find that you can numb an irritated nerve. This is most often done by a doctor, however. In addition to this, the cold will help you with the chronic pain that stems from injuries. In many cases with chronic pain, you can find that your pain originated from a nerve injury. The ability to numb said nerve and calm down does wonders for people who suffer from pain daily.

It Reduces Bleeding

As mentioned above, cold therapy can relieve pain, and there are many reasons why doctors think it works so well. However, it also reduces bleeding. By cooling the skin’s surface and thereby cooling the tissues underneath the skin, you are causing blood vessels to narrow. It will decrease the amount of blood being delivered to the area, and as such, it reduces the amount of bleeding that is occurring and the swelling that happens as well.

A Reduction In Muscle Spasms

Another benefit of cold therapy is the reduction of muscle spasms. A muscle will spasm in response to an injury. It occurs when the muscles around an injury contract to protect the area from getting injured further. When you use cold therapy, particularly ice, it kills the pain, and the muscle instantly begins to relax. Another reason it is believed this therapy works is that it slows the conduction of sensory and motor nerves, which can help your body relax. As muscle spasms can also occur with chronic pain, it is something to watch out for carefully.

Additional Relief Can Be Found

It might surprise you, but cold therapy can help with migraines and headaches. Studies have shown that wearing a neck wrap with an ice pack (no more than ten minutes) will help numb your nerves and remove the pain you feel in your head. Another area that can help is nerve irritations that occur in the neck.

Help With Surgery

You will find that many doctors recommend cryotherapy for post-surgical rehabilitation as it is great pain relief. It can put patients in a better mood, help them achieve their normal functions again, and it helps them recover more quickly. In particular, it will help you recover from soft tissue trauma quicker by helping you achieve your rate of normal function.

Embrace The Cold

By using cold therapy, you will notice that your mood, pain, and life improve. Chronic pain can keep you down, but you don’t have to stay down by using cold treatment. Embrace the cold and notice that your pain lessens, you can keep living your life, and you will be able to ensure that your pain doesn’t keep you from doing the things you love. Now that you know how cold therapy can help with chronic pain, speak with your doctor and feel the benefits yourself.

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