Cold Packs

If you have recently encountered an accident or an injury, chances are you will soon develop some telltale black and blue bruises and even some swellings as evidence for the beating your body suffered. The common first aid practice for such condition is to apply a hot and cold pack to alleviate the pain as well as to lessen the possibility of further swelling and development of bruises. This practice is known as cryotherapy, a medical concept that actually dates as far back at the time of Hippocrates. However, it was only in 1940’s that the application of hot and cold packs was really used extensively as a viable treatment for subacute and acute injuries as well as part of the rehabilitation process.

Cold pack therapy, in particular, significantly reduces muscle spasms, which is believed to be the result of the body’s secondary response to the increased activity in the cold receptors. The usual therapeutic practice is through direct application of cold ice pack, compression devices; even snow and ice water can be used as an alternative but should be 10-25 degrees Celsius. This technique utilizes the convection and conduction concept by means of cooling the affected area. Guidelines for the use of cold packs include the requirement of using an intervening material from extreme cold in order to protect the injured skin. Exposure to cold should also be limited to no more than twenty minutes of application, or alternating a twenty-minute period of cold pack application and removal. Typically, the patient will experience an intense cold, followed by a burning sensation, a dull ache and finally pain relief through loss of sensation.

Although many people have sworn by the efficacy of this technique, there are some individuals who have experienced ill effects such as allergic reactions and hypersensitivity and even a minor cold injury such as frostbite or frostnip. When using cryotherapy, the injured body part should be properly elevated and should never be attempted to be applied in individuals who have rheumatoid arthritic variants, those with hypersensitivity skin problems, cryoglobulinemia, Buerger’s disease, Raynaud’s phenomenon, and past history of frostbite. Caution should also be observed when applying cold packs on and near some superficial nerves, or when enthusiastic activities will be engaged soon after the treatment. This is mainly because prolonged applications are particularly aimed at deeper tissues and muscles, which can possibly affect the body’s performance.

The interesting development of cryotherapy involves the experimentation of other applications aside from alleviating pain in injuries. In fact, there are some medical experts who are seriously looking into the possibilities of using extreme heat to destroy the body’s diseased tissues, which includes cancer cells. Even in the 1960’s, the concept was explored in the use of cold application on precancerous skin moles, skin tumors, unsightly freckles and nodules. It was also used in destroying retinablastomas, a type of cancer in the retina that is developed in early childhood. With the considerable improvement of imaging techniques and more reliable devices in the medical field, physicians are also starting to experiment in the use of cryotherapy in liver, cervical, prostate cancers, most especially when surgery is not possible. Up until today, continued research and experimentations are conducted in the possible application can be utilized in the use of cryotherapy.

So from the mild bump, a minor injury or a life-threatening condition, cold applications have been extensively used throughout the years – a seemingly simple concept that has proven to be a promising solution to the modern health problems of today. With concentrated medical efforts employed today, we can all look forward to discovering more benefits and advantages in using cryotherapy in small injuries to other serious and critical medical conditions.