When should heat be used to facilitate healing in an injury?
It is important to understand a little bit about how the body heals to understand how and when heat should be used to treat injuries. There are three recognized phases to the healing process. The first phase is known as the inflammatory phase. The goal during this phase is to protect the injured area from further injury while the body debrieds and contains the damaged tissue. When an injury initially occurs, there is damage to the soft tissue structures (ligament, muscle, and tendon) but also damage to the blood vessels immediately in the area. The damage to the blood vessels causes fluids to build up in the injured area causing the swelling that is typically seen in a new injury. To help reduce the flow of fluid into the area and thereby reduce swelling, cryotherapy (cold applications) is the best modality to use right after an injury. Cold modalities can help slow down and decrease the circulation to the area thereby reducing swelling. Heat applied during this phase is contraindicate
