{"id":2721,"date":"2018-05-28T11:22:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T11:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radianthealth.us\/2018\/05\/28\/heat-or-cold-for-back-pain\/"},"modified":"2018-05-28T11:22:43","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T11:22:43","slug":"heat-or-cold-for-back-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/2018\/05\/28\/heat-or-cold-for-back-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat or Cold For Back Pain?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-477 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/radianthealth.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/fire-and-ice-resized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>If your back is hurting, you may find yourself getting conflicting advice when it comes to treatment.\u00a0 Some people will say you should use heat, while others will insist that ice is the better option.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is that both are effective treatments, but there are times when one offers superior benefits than the other. So how do you know?\u00a0 In this piece, we\u2019ll offer some good general guidelines you can use next time back pain slows you down.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Immediately After You Hurt Your Back<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the first 72 hours after you suffer a back injury, ice is your best friend because cold therapy helps to reduce swelling. This will reduce the amount of pain you\u2019re in and for how long.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Having said that, there are a few tips to keep in mind where ice is concerned:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t overdo it. If you\u2019re going to use ice, be sure to apply it for no more than 15-20 minutes at a stretch, then give your body an hour or so without it.\u00a0 Using ice for longer periods can actually work against you.<\/li>\n<li>Be sure you\u2019re not applying the ice directly to your skin. Use a towel, shirt, or some barrier between your skin and the ice so you don\u2019t suffer from \u201cice burn,\u201d which can be as painful as your back pain!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>In The Long Term<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once you pass the 72-hour mark, your best bet will be to alternate between heat and ice treatments.\u00a0 Here, the same basic principle applies.\u00a0 Whichever you\u2019re using (ice or heat) be sure not to apply it for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, and give your body about an hour break between treatments. Your treatment plan would look something like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ice (15-20 mins)<\/li>\n<li>Break for one hour<\/li>\n<li>Heat (15-20 mins)<\/li>\n<li>Another Break<\/li>\n<li>Then back to ice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Do that, and you\u2019ll minimize your pain, and the amount of time you suffer from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-477 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/radianthealth.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/fire-and-ice-resized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>If your back is hurting, you may find yourself getting conflicting advice when it comes to treatment.\u00a0 Some people will say you should use heat, while others will insist that &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2727,"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions\/2727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radianthealth.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}