Friday, April 19, 2024
HomeEditor PicksIs Ice Good For Knee Pain

Is Ice Good For Knee Pain

Our Rotator Cuff Formula Works

Ice vs. Heat for Knee Pain | Knee Exercises

It may seem hard to believe, but our Shoulder TShellz Wraps®, and accessory products will assist you in recovering from your injury by reducing your swelling and inflammation induced pain, maximizing localized blood flow and increasing the flexibility / Range of Motion in the area.

Here at AidMyRotatorCuff we pride ourselves in helping you with your healing and recovery process. Everyone at AidMyRotatorCuff has tested and used the products, finding solutions to conditions that do not fit into the norm. This dedication to our customers and our products goes hand-in-hand with our guarantees to you as a customer:

  • Guarantee #1 Use your products diligently for up to 60 days and you will experience a significant reduction in pain. If not, I encourage you to send back the items for a 100% refund.
  • Guarantee #2 You will not be left in the dark after purchasing any product from us. AidMyRotatorCuff Advisers and Product Specialists are available Monday to Friday by toll free phone 1-866-237-9608 or to answer your questions or concerns.
  • Guarantee #3 Your order is guaranteed to be shipped within 24 hours on every business day.
  • Guarantee #4 All purchases receive a one year, full replacement warranty with guaranteed, prompt service.
  • Guarantee #5 You could save hundreds of dollars and possibly more, by utilizing our products, and getting back to work sooner.

Alternative Methods To Help Reduce Chronic Knee Pain

For minor injuries that cause knee pain, icing the area is often the best method of treatment. However, if your knee pain is caused by something else, icing may not work to reduce your pain. In this situation, try one of the other common treatment methods used to help reduce chronic knee pain, such as:

      • Wrap or Brace Your Knee Wrapping your knee when you know youll be walking around, working out, or being active is a good way to keep the joint from getting stiff, but still offering light support. It is best to wrap your knee only when youre going to be active, unless directed by your physical therapist or another medical professional.
      • Consider Your Footwear and Insoles The type of shoes we wear can have a direct impact on the overall health of our knees. Try putting supportive insoles in your favorite shoes, which may help take some of the pressure off of your knees and offer you some relief.
      • Exercise Contrary to what you may think, resting too much might cause the muscles around your knee to weaken and hurt more. Low impact exercises such as swimming and certain yoga stretches may help strengthen your knee without causing further injuries.

Heat And Cold Therapy For Arthritis Pain

Is there anything you can do about the pain and stiffness of arthritis? Perhaps youve heard that heat or cold therapy can help relieve pain and are wondering if its worth giving them a try. Well, it is.

Many arthritis doctors recommend both heat and cold treatments to help reduce inflammation and ease the pain and stiffness that comes with arthritis. It may take a little trial and error to learn which therapy works best for your pain. But by staying with it, you may find the right combination of hot packs and ice packs to get the most relief from pain and make it easier to manage arthritis. If pain persists, be sure to talk with your doctor.

Recommended Reading: Knees Crack When Doing Squats

When Should You Use Heat

When you use a heating pad or hot water bottle, blood flood increases. This makes it easier for oxygen and nutrients to reach your painful joints. Heat helps loosen tight muscles and joints and relieves pain and muscle spasms. If you have swelling, it’s best to use ice for 24 hours, then switch to heat. If swelling isn’t a problem, it’s fine to use heat when you first notice knee pain.

Although a heating pad can help you feel better, it can cause burns if you use it too long or the setting is too high. Don’t use the heating pad for more than 10 to 20 minutes at a time. Stop using the heating pad sooner if it worsens your pain or your skin begins to look very red.

If you don’t have a heating pad or hot water bottle, wet a washcloth, wring it out, then microwave it for 30 seconds. You can microwave the washcloth for a few seconds longer if it isn’t quite warm enough.

A hot shower or bath is also a good choice if you have aching muscles or joints due to an injury, chronic low back pain or arthritis. The Arthritis Foundation® suggests keeping the water temperature between 92 and 100 degrees when you take a shower.

A Summary Of How Ice & Heat Affect Your Blood Flow

2019 Knee Support Brace,Ice Gel Hot Cold Therapy Compress Pack For Knee ...

Imagine you’re standing in your living room at home. When the air in that room is at normal room temperature , your body is in a comfortable state. Your heart rate and blood pressure are normal .

Imagine the air has cooled down to freezing…

When the room becomes cooler your heart rate begins to slow down and your blood pressure increases. Your body does this automatically to retain heat in your body. At this time your soft tissue will also start to squeeze on and contract all of the veins in your body carrying blood flow. This also helps to decrease the amount of blood flowing throughout your circulatory system and retains the heat.

When cold is applied to a knee injury, all of your soft tissue will squeeze on the veins to slow down your blood flow. This in turn clamps down on the amount of fluid leaking into your injured tissue, decreasing your swelling. This is why cold is used immediately to treat newer knee injuries or re-injuries. The cold slows down your body to stop the amount of damage happening to your tissue and decrease your swelling. This cold also has a nice side benefit of numbing the nerves in and around your knee injury thereby decreasing your pain.

In the medical world this is something called ‘Vasoconstriction’.

Now, imagine the air has warmed up enough that you start sweating…

When the room becomes warmer your heart rate speeds up and your blood pressure decreases. Your body is trying to increase your blood flow to cool down your body.

Also Check: Best Knee Walker 2016

The Rice Principle & Knee Ice Compression

R.I.C.E. is a well known principle that has been recommended by doctors for several years now and is crucial to managing your knee pain and/or recovering from a knee injury. R.I.C.E. stands for:

  • Rest You want to rest and protect your knee as soon as it becomes injured or sore. This means stopping any activities or sports that cause increased pain or soreness, or at least changing what you are doing for the time being.
  • Ice Applying ice or cold compress to the affected knee area helps to reduce the pain and any swelling by slowing the rush of blood to the aggravated joint and it also numbs nerve endings, which helps to dull the pain.
  • Compression Compression is where you wrap the injured area with an elastic bandage. Doing this also helps to decrease swelling in the area. This is the key to knee cold compression, combining the cold and compression together.
  • Elevation Elevating the injured joint above the level of the heart to reduce the pressure and accumulation of fluid around the joint.

Both Hot & Cold Treatments Are Important

People get confused with how ice and heat work to relieve pain and heal. They also get confused with which temperature treatment is better for their injury and how to get the right amount of “ice” or “heat” for effective treatment.

When it comes to using ice and heat for treating knee injuries, it’s important to keep in mind that both ice AND heat are very effective ways to relieve pain and heal. Most people will think one is better over the other from their own experience or what a doctor / physical therapist has previously told them.

The only difference between using ice and heat is that 1 is better for you at a specific time in your healing cycle. Ice is used first, right when you get your injury, to decrease pain / swelling and inflammation. Heat comes later, to increase blood flow circulation and stimulate the body’s healing response.

So which is better?

They’ll ultimately work for you in the same way. Each temperature has its own unique benefits for your knee, and when used togther they provide a powerful advantage to long-term healing. You may already know that ice or heat feels better on your knee, and this could influence your decision too.

The bottom line is that ice and heat are exceptional, natural, pain relievers and healers for your knee injury.

There are cases where some injuries will respond better to 1 temperature over the other. We want to help clear up the confusion so you know which is better and how to get the most from your treatment at home.

Also Check: Does Tommie Copper Knee Sleeve Work

Learn More About Superior Knee Treatments

I want to learn more about Knee Post Surgery

Learn more about how the Knee TShellz Wrap® helps with the healing process.

Some Facts About Knees:

Approximately 19.4 million visits to physicians’ offices in the US per year are due to knee problems.

The knee is a complex joint with many components, making it vulnerable to a variety of injuries.

Oral medications can mask the pain but do not aid in the healing of knee injuries.

Most knee injuries can be successfully treated without surgery.

Sadly, regardless of treatment, ACL injuries in high-school youths are associated with a 10-fold increased risk for degenerative knee arthritis later in life.

MendmyKnee is an FDA registered company.

Every year, at least 1 in 3000 Americans between ages 14 and 55 tear an anterior cruciate ligament .

Ice Or Heating Pads For Knee Pain

Knee pain relief ice treatment L

Knee injuries, however minor, can cause pain and discomfort that prevents you from engaging in your normal daily activities. Knowing when to use ice and when it is okay to use heat on a knee that is in pain or injured can make a big difference between easing the pain and encouraging your knee to start healing or preventing your knee from starting the healing process, potentially causing more pain.

You May Like: Nano Knee Surgery Cost

Should You Use Heat Or Ice For Knee Pain

Should You Use Heat Or Ice For Knee Pain?

According to CDC.gov, Knee pain is prevalent in 18% of the US population. The incidence of knee pain is slightly higher in women than in men. Studies indicate that the pain gets worse with age and that obese and overweight individuals are highly susceptible to it. Other risk factors include osteoarthritis, fractures, overuse, gout and so on. If you dont tackle knee pain early, the joint may degenerate to a level where surgery is the only option for treatment. As you know, knee replacement surgery is ridiculously expensive and complex. You definitely dont want to walk down that path.

Knee pain can cause extreme discomfort and prevent mobility. This has a negative impact on a persons social life and emotional well being. In many cases, it can even prevent the individual from working in certain environments and lead to heavy financial losses. Knee pain is one problem that you must nip in the bud or else it can destroy your life, really! If you think that is an overstatement, ask a person who suffers from chronic pain.

Physiotherapy, compression knee pain wraps, light massage, icing , heating and acupressure are all effective against knee pain IF you do them right. All of these approaches are hassle free and inexpensive. But should you use heat or ice for knee pain? Let us take a closer look at what the science says.

The Benefits of Ice for Knee Pain

The Benefits of Heat for Knee Pain

How To Use Consistent Deep Tissue Stretching To Improve Knee Strength & Health

For many people, the treatment won’t just end there. Stretching is also an important part of tendon healing – and it’s the final stepneeded when healing your knee injury with conservative treatment methods.

You would be suprised by how many people there are that don’t understand the importance of stretching a knee injury. Before returning to full activity after an injury, physical therapists prescribe gentle stretching… This is because stretching is the secret of healing any soft tissue injury. Consistent stretching is one of the only solutions available to break up scar tissue that forms on your knee as it heals.

Stretching with use of a Cold Compress or Ice Pack and TShellz Wrap® is even better!

Don’t Miss: How Much Does Aflac Pay For Outpatient Surgery

Applying Heat Vs Cold To An Arthritic Joint

Using heat and/or cold therapies on an arthritic joint is a simple, inexpensive alternative treatment that can help to alleviate pain, stiffness and swelling. Read:Alternative Treatments

Heat can relax muscles and help lubricate joints. Heat therapy may be used to relieve muscle and joint stiffness, help warm up joints before activity, or ease a muscle spasm.

Learn more: When and Why to Apply Cold to an Arthritic Joint

Alternating heat and cold. Some people alternate between heat and cold therapy. For example:

  • A patient may be encouraged to use heat therapy to warm up a joint before physical therapy exercise and to use cold therapy after exercise.
  • A person can use heat therapy in the morning to loosen up an osteoarthritic knee and use cold therapy to reduce swelling a few hours later. This process can be repeated throughout the day.

Cold therapy is recommended for certain types of arthritis that cause painful inflammation flares, such as gout and pseudogout. People with other types of arthritisincluding but not limited to osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitismay benefit from both heat and cold therapy.

Learn more:

There are no universally accepted guidelines for when to use heat or cold therapy on osteoarthritic joints, and recommendations are mixed.16 People with osteoarthritis are advised to experiment with both heat and cold therapy to find what works best for them.7

How To Ice Knee After Replacement

12 Best Ice Packs For Knee Pain In 2020

Knee replacement surgery is an intense, invasive procedure. It requires a big incision, and the surgeon will surgically remove bone and cartilage. He digs around in the knee to take out the bad tissue and then replaces the tissue with an artificial knee.

So icing your knee after knee replacement is critical to healing.

Many people will either rent, borrow, or buy an ice machine.

This machine has a sleeve that wraps around the knee. A tube stretches from the sleeve to an ice machine. The machine then pumps iced water through the tube and into the sleeve, keeping the ice water circulating so the knee is both compressed and iced at the same time.

Because you have the barrier of the sleeve, the question regarding how long to ice knee injuries no longer applies as much. You can keep the machine on your leg for a longer duration than if you had just a basic ice pack.

You will have to wear a knee brace for at least six weeks after you get your knee replaced. Even as you wear a brace, you will want to ice your knee. Compress, elevate, and ice that knee exactly like your doctor tells you to.

Once you have an ice machine like this in the house, you will find you can use it in multiple ways. You can use it when treating arthritis pain in your knee or shoulder.

Read Also: Inversion Table For Knee Pain

What Should I Do About Runner’s Knee

To help knee pain at home, Andy recommends applying ice to the knee and stretching.

Hold ice on the painful area for around 20 minutes a few times a day. Never put ice directly on your skin.

To stretch the area, Andy recommends lying on your side with your bad leg on top.

Bend your top leg so your foot goes back towards your bottom, then hold it there with your hand and keep both knees touching.

Hold the stretch for at least 45 seconds, breathing deeply and feeling the stretch in the thigh. Repeat this around 6 times a day.

If the pain’s severe or the knee’s swollen, see a GP straight away.

If your knee pain is not severe, stop running and get it checked by a GP or physiotherapist if the pain does not go away after a week.

They can also recommend stretches or exercises to help you recover.

When To Use Ice For Joint Pain

For the most part, ice is appropriate to use within 48 hours of an acute injury or a flare-up of joint pain that comes with inflammation, experts explain. Examples include tendinitis, bursitis, soft tissue injuries, and inflamed joints, Dr. Bose says.

How to Use Ice for Joint Pain

The rule of thumb for icing down an inflamed area is up to 10 minutes on, followed by about 10 minutes off, several times if needed. Dont put ice or a cold pack directly on the skin, unless the cold pack has a built-in barrier, to prevent skin damage. Pay attention to how your body is responding to the cold. Listen to your body, Dr. Bose says. I tell my patients: Use an ice pack, put it on the knee, and once it starts getting uncomfortable, give it a break.

Types of Ice Therapy

You have a lot of options when it comes to icing a joint. At-home solutions like filling a plastic bag with ice cubes and a little water, using a bag of frozen vegetables, or putting a damp towel in the freezer are time-tested for a reason. You can purchase gel packs and other types of cold packs at drugstores or supermarkets. Whatever method you choose, use something large enough to cover the whole area where the pain is located, Dr. Smith says.

Safety with Ice Therapy

Also Check: Ginger Poultice For Knee Pain

RELATED ARTICLES

Popular Articles