If you are dealing with mild, moderate, or even severe pain, you may seek chiropractic care as a natural pain relief solution. Your chiropractic care provider is highly skilled in the art of adjustment: They will perform subtle adjustments on your spine to help relieve pain throughout your body. Although you may expect a spinal adjustment while at the chiropractor, but you may not know that chiropractic care pairs perfectly with another type of care: Physiotherapy. Many chiropractors offer the two similar, but still quite different, physiotherapy methods discussed below. Read on to learn the hot and the cold of physiotherapy!

Cold Therapy

Cold therapy, sometimes called Cryotherapy, uses ice to help alleviate pain. The ice is applied in several different ways. Some chiropractors create ice packs with fresh ice cubes. These packs are then wrapped in towels and placed on the area where you are hurting.

Another cold therapy method involves reusable cold packs. These cold packs have a core made of water. Surrounding the water is a substance such as ammonium nitrate. The cold pack is activated by squeezing, and this triggers a freezing reaction in the water. The water won't penetrate the waterproof cold pack lining, thus this is a non-messy way to apply cold to an injury.

Cold therapy is often used in short intervals, primarily for the purpose of numbing pain. It may also lower the amount of inflammation around a wound. It is common for chiropractors to alternate cold therapy with heat therapy, sometimes using both in the same visit.

Heat Therapy

Heat therapy, sometimes called moist heat therapy, is another excellent way to help reduce both pain and inflammation. Your chiropractor may recommend using both of these physiotherapy methods back to back for the ultimate pain relief.

There are a couple of ways to administer heat therapy, with the use of heated pads being the most common. Your chiropractor may use a traditional electric heating pad with a protective cover. Alternatively, they may use a heated gel pack that contains a sodium acetate solution. Heated gel packs are typically wrapped up in towels to protect your skin.

While less common, your chiropractor may also offer heat therapy in the form of whirlpools. A whirlpool with jets that send water right to the injured area, for example your lower back, can be a very relaxing way to relieve pain and tension. You can even try a more basic type of water heat therapy at home simply by soaking in hot baths.

Now that you know the hot and the cold of physiotherapy, be sure to ask your chiropractor if you might benefit from adding these treatments to your chiropractic regimen. Heat and cold therapy may just give you the extra healing power you need to feel better fast!

To learn more about chiropractic care, contact a clinic like Stroud Chiropractic Clinic. 

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