RI Chiro Guides: Heat/Cold Therapy Rock!

Heat and cold therapy are great for lower back pain relief—but how do you know which one to use? Find when to use ice and when to use heat.

http://www.spine-health.com/blog/should-i-use-ice-or-heat-my-lower-back-pain

At-home Relief - Advice from a Chiro

Ice / Heat Therapy
Heat or cold therapy can provide a surprising amount of pain relief for most types of back and neck pain. Muscle strains and pulls are some of the most common causes of back pain, and can be soothed with heat and cold therapy.

Cold packs help reduce inflammation and numb a painful area while heat packs help increase circulation to a specific area of the body and can promote healing.

It’s easy to make a hot or cold pack with materials you already have at home.  Making hot or cold packs yourself is convenient, because one will be ready whenever you need it, and it could save you some money.

Homemade Gel Ice Packs
These homemade gel ice packs are more comfortable than a bag of frozen peas, because they mold better to your body without the lumps and bumps. They can be made for under $3.

What you need:
1 quart or 1 gallon plastic freezer bags (depending on how large you want the cold pack)
2 cups water
1 cup rubbing alcohol

Instructions:
Fill the plastic freezer bag with 1 cup of rubbing alcohol and 2 cups of water.
Try to get as much air out of the freezer bag before sealing it shut.
Place the bag and its contents inside a second freezer bag to contain any leakage.
Leave the bag in the freezer for at least an hour.
When it's ready, place a towel between the gel pack and bare skin to avoid burning the skin.

Home-Made Pain Relief
Sometimes the simplest solutions are best.  Here we show you how to make your own gel ice pack or moist heat pack, and a simple low back massager to help ease your discomfort until you can get in to see your chiropractor.

Homemade Moist Heat Packs
Heat therapy increases circulation to aching muscles, and provides pain relief. There are two types of heat therapy, dry and moist.

Electric heating pads bring a dry heat, which some people find to be less comforting than moist heat. Moist heat packs are less dehydrating to the skin, and they allow heat to absorb better into the skin and relieve pain faster.

What you need:

• Cloth container (sock, fabric)
• 4-6 cups filling (e.g. uncooked rice, flax seed, buckwheat, oatmeal)
• Needle and thread (optional, but recommended)
• Flair (ribbon, fragrant oils; optional)

Instructions:

1. Fill your container with the filling.
2. Tie or sew the container shut.
3. Add soothing aromatherapy before you microwave, if you want.
4. Microwave container for 1-3 minutes.
5. Whether you are using cold or heat therapy, do not apply them for more than 15 minutes at a time. The best way to apply either heat or cold is to alternate 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off for an hour or two.

Do-It-Yourself Massage

What you need:

• 6 tennis balls
• A roll of duct tape
• A floor
• 10-15 minutes daily

Instructions:
Align the tennis balls in a figure eight, and then use as much duct tape as needed to secure the balls in this shape. When completed, the compact tennis balls/duct tape contraption will look like a peanut.

Place the tennis balls on the ground and then lie on them face up, keeping the knees bent. The tennis balls should be parallel to your waist and centered just above the lumbar spine (lower back).

Attain balance and comfort, and then raise both arms with your fingers pointed towards the ceiling. Keep your arms as straight as possible.

Beginning with either your right or left arm, slowly lower your arm backwards toward your head (visualize a reverse tomahawk chop without the speed). Once again, keep your arms as straight as possible and feel free to bend your neck backwards when moving your arms.

Bring the arm backwards to the ground, hold this position for a couple of seconds, and then slowly bring it back to its original starting position.

Now repeat the same action with the other arm.

Alternate and complete for each arm four more times. Through-out this process, the tennis balls simulate the knuckles of a massage therapist.

Heat Therapy for Lower Back Pain

Find out how to effectively use heat therapy to relieve your lower back pain.

http://www.spine-health.com/blog/how-use-heat-lower-back-pain-relief

Cold Laser Light Tissue Therapy - Pain Management

The light from low level lasers can penetrate the skin and tissues between 2-5 cm and those photons are absorbed by the tissue cells to generate more energy, which is believed to help those tissues heal faster.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/pain-management/cold-laser-therapy-pain-management-treatment

What is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is generally defined as any pain that continues more than 3 to 6 months. Please read the below for more information.

http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/depression/4-tips-help-cope-chronic-pain-and-depression?source=3tab

Low Impact vs. High Impact for Recovery

Aerobic exercise increases the blood flow in the body, which helps speed up healing, but high-impact exercises may cause additional stress or trauma to the structures of the spine.

http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/low-impact-aerobic-exercise

Cold Laser Therapy a.k.a. Low Level Laser Therapy

Cold Laser Therapy or Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) is a treatment that utilizes specific wavelengths of light to interact with tissue and is thought to help accelerate the healing process. It can be used on patients who suffer from a variety of acute and chronic conditions in order to help eliminate pain, swelling, reduce spasms and increase functionality.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/pain-management/cold-laser-therapy-pain-management-treatment

Spinal Decompression Therapy FAQ

Spinal Decompression Therapy involves stretching the spine, using a traction table or similar motorized device, with the goal of relieving back pain and/or leg pain.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/all-about-spinal-decompression-therapy

Graston Technique for Back Pain

The Graston Technique is a form of manual therapy known as soft-tissue instrument-assisted mobilization. It is one of a number of manual therapy approaches that uses instruments with a specialized form of massage/scraping the skin gently.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/graston-technique-instrument-assisted-soft-tissue-manual-therapy-back-pain

Heat & Back Pain

Sometimes battling the heat with back pain can be tough. Check out these tips.

http://www.spine-health.com/blog/battling-heat-and-back-pain

Chiropractic Reactions & Care

In the course of being treated by a doctor of chiropractic for spinal derangement or subluxations, certain reactions may be experienced by the patient receiving the chiropractic adjustment. Read all about the possibilities here:

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/reactions-following-a-chiropractic-adjustment

Integrating Chiropractic Care

What's the best way to incorporate chiropractic care in with care from other doctors?

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/integrating-chiropractic-care-other-doctors

Hamstring Stretching for Low Back & Sciatica Relief

Most low back pain and sciatica problems will benefit from a regular routine of hamstring stretching. Read all about it and check out the videos, too.

http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/hamstring-stretching-exercises-sciatica-pain-relief

MVAs and Whiplash - Chiropractic Treatment

Common from even seemingly minor motor vehicle accidents, cases of whiplash can be extremely severe. Because each individual case of whiplash is different, it is not possible to generalize about the chiropractic whiplash treatment.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/chiropractic-treatments-whiplash

Joint Dysfunction & Manipulation

Joint dysfunction in the spine can produce pain, and mobilizing the spine joints through manipulations (also called adjustments) can decrease that pain.

http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/arthritis/more-osteoarthritis-treatments

Shoveling Snow Can Hurt Your Back!

Using the wrong body mechanics when shoveling snow can put undue stress on the lower back and lead to a painful muscle strain, or possibly more serious back injuries.

http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/ergonomics/snow-shoveling-techniques-prevent-low-back-injuries

Myofascial Therapy

Pain in an area of your body with soft tissue may be helped by treating the myofascia (trigger points) with stretching of the skin and muscles.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/physical-therapy/myofascial-therapy-treatment-acute-and-chronic-pain

Exercise and Chiropractic Therapy

Cardiovascular and strengthening exercises combined with chiropractic care are important in the management of low back pain

If a patient has a history of heart problems, it is important for the patient to consult with not only the doctor of chiropractic but their primary care physician to be certain that they can tolerate cardiovascular fitness-promoting activities. Specific instructions are given by the chiropractor with respect to proper exercise for the patient's condition before beginning any exercise program.

In general, a reasonable amount of exercise performed daily and utilizing enjoyable activities is recommended for patients undergoing chiropractic treatment.

Exercise Benefits

Many studies have reported the importance of exercises in managing acute and chronic low back pain, strengthening the low back, preventing and keeping back patients working, and to improve quality of life. The strength of the abdominal muscles was also found to be able to differentiate between those with vs. without chronic LBP.

Overall and when combined with chiropractic care, aerobic exercise helps promote proper digestion, keeps the muscles in proper tone and promotes better circulation. Walking briskly around the block at least once or twice is a convenient and popular activity.
Also, many forms of work and/or household tasks can function as an exercise program. The important point is to exercise!

Types of Exercises

There are many applicable back exercises that are available for patients also undergoing chiropractic care for lower back pain. One can classify the chiropractic patient into a flexion or extension biased category to determine the variety that is best for that patient. For example:

- If a patient feels best when bending over (flexion biased), exercises that promote low back flexion such as pulling the knees to the chest, posterior pelvic tilts, bending forward from a sitting position and others are usually helpful.

- If a patient is least symptomatic in extension, especially if leg pain centralizes or diminishes (extension biased), prone press- up type exercises usually yield the best results.

Other exercises that can help reduce lower back pain include:

-Strengthening of the pelvic (trunk) stabilizing muscles

-Stretching of the hamstrings, adductors, and other overly short or tight postural muscles

-Proprioceptive or balance promoting.

Benefits of Back and Abdominal Exercise

Weak and/or overly tight supporting muscles can have painful spasms and suffer injuries themselves,
which then prevent them from supporting the spine as needed. Compromised muscles can also lead to problems with bone structure of the spine due to poor posture from the weak muscles, thereby creating an increased risk of back pain/ injury.

Consequently, developing combined strength in stomach muscles and back muscles can:

- Reduce the likelihood of back pain episodes

- Reduce the severity of back pain

- Protect against injury by responding efficiently to stresses

- Help avoid back surgery in some cases

- Facilitate healing from a back problem or after spine surgery

- Improve posture.

Reported Efficacy of Exercise in Chiropractic Care

According to the Scientific Commission of the Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP):

- Strong evidence supports exercise as being at least as effective as other non-surgical treatments for chronic low back pain

- Moderate evidence supports use of a graded-activity exercise program in occupational settings for subacute lower back pain

- Some evidence shows that exercises are no more effective than other nonsurgical treatments for acute lower back pain.

As with any chiropractic treatment, it is important for chiropractors to perform a focused reevaluation of an exercise program following its initial therapeutic trial to determine its effectiveness. Using spinal range of motion as a measurement of the effectiveness of exercise is just one way in which chiropractors can make such determinations.

Learn more about exercise and back pain. Visit http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/back-exercises

Cold Laser Therapy for Pain Management

The light from low level lasers can penetrate the skin and tissues between 2-5 cm and those photons are absorbed by the tissue cells to generate more energy, which is believed to help those tissues heal faster.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/pain-management/cold-laser-therapy-pain-management-treatment

Exercise and Chiro

Exercise and chiropractic care go hand in hand as part of a comprehensive treatment plan to back or neck recovery.

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/exercise-and-chiropractic-therapy