Heat or Ice after rolling?

[Murdoch]

When should you use heat and when should you use ice? I used to use heat pads to unknot my back but found that ice helps a lot as well. Any suggestions?

 

[ATTfighter]

ice it for the first 24-48 hours then heat it

 

[TapouTime]

i always take a hot bath and stretch in the bath it helps me sooo much but hey everyones different stretch before and after its SOOO important...

 

[Bama Zulu]

Always use ice after an acute injury. Heating is used for chronic injuries that are up to 48+ hours old.

So if your back only hurts after rolling then use ice packs. Remember never to use direct contact with the ice packs. 20 minute intervals with 5-8 minutes rest in between for about 2-3 times depending on how bad it feels.

 

[Joey Guidice]

Heat before Ice after as a general rule.....its good to heat with a stretch before practice...then ice after a stretch post workout

 

[judogido]

Ice after workouts to reduce swelling, bruising & soreness.

I've spoken with some powelifters who swear by a 10-minute full-body ice bath after training to aid recovery.

 

[FutureBxer]

Ice after workouts to reduce swelling, bruising & soreness.

I've spoken with some powelifters who swear by a 10-minute full-body ice bath after training to aid recovery.

the idea behind this is to ice (constricts blood vessels) and then heat (opens blood vessels) so it makes a pump-like effect w/ ur blood vessels so the blood is pumping to and from ur muscles more - clearing out the lactic acid much faster.


who knows how much it works though, a lot of the stuff is placebo......

 

[aries]

Ice after workouts to reduce swelling, bruising & soreness.

I've spoken with some powelifters who swear by a 10-minute full-body ice bath after training to aid recovery.

I did this after a half marathon. Suffered very little muscle soreness as a result. When I ran one and didn't I was severly sore for 5 days after! Amazing difference.

 

[judogido]

I did this after a half marathon. Suffered very little muscle soreness as a result. When I ran one and didn't I was severly sore for 5 days after! Amazing difference.

So far I've been too much of a wimp to try it. The powerlifter I spoke to swore by it. 10-minute ice bath. *shudder* - the things we do......

 

[judogido]

---> Uuh, I'd better add a disclaimer that I'm no medical professional & you should do a 10-minute ice-bath at your own risk. I can just imagine some dumb sh*t having his toes fall off, passing out or getting hypothermia or something because s/he read this thread.

 

[ichimonji]

cyclobenzaprine. the little yellow pill will do ya.

 

[Bama Zulu]

Yeah I have heard of power-lifters doing that. But I'll take my ice-packs wrapped in towels thank you.

 

[rickdog]

If is is just used as a recovery tool and not necessarily for an injury then I would recommend contrasting the heat and then the cold. 5 minutes of heat, 5 minutes of cold for 2 or 3 cycles. This will rush blood to the area of the heat and cold and the blood will bring nutrients with it which will help in muscle recovery. Thats why contrasting showers are great, because they cover the whole body.

 

[ClubberLange]

what I like to do is have a shower after training changing the temp from warm to full-cold. Wakes you up too.
Or if you have a seperate shower and bath in the same room, jump in a cold bath then a warm shower. Add ice to the bath if you want to be serious.
I'm lucky enough to work in a big sports and aquatic centre too. So I go from the sauna straight off the diving boards into the icy cold diving pool.
You can do the same thing with hot and cold packs.
Improves the circulation, helping with recovery.

For an injury I ice it 20 min on, 20 min off.

 

[tequilaman]

Ice on joints, but heat on muscles.

 

[Bama Zulu]

Who taught you that?

 

[VanDamme]

If its an injury, ice for the first 24 hours is the correct way to go. Since the ice constricts the vessels, it helps to minimize swelling and leaves less fluid in that immediate area for your body to clean up. After 24 hours, you're going to be swollen as much as you're going to get, and now your body is beginning to clean things up- after those intial 24 hours, heat is the way to go since it dialates your vessels and allows for more blood to get to the area and speeds up the rate at which fluid is removed from the area.

If its just a sore back, I think that heat followed by stretching is a good way to go. If you have an injured back (say you pulled a muscle) I would follow the above advice. Each time you agitate an old injury you can re- ice it as well. Using ice on an injury older than 24 hours doesnt really do much in the ways of helping it heal.

 

[Murdoch]

thank you all for your comments. i have lots of back problems, i broke a small piece of bone off my sinal column. that then fused a litle funny throwing my hips forward a tad, pushing out a disc a bit and tensing up a lot of muscles here and there. i used to heat it but found the ice to work well as of late. i think next time i will try 5-10 ice then 5-10 heat cylce and see how that goes. thanks again everyone.

 

[Bama Zulu]

And remember after the initial icing and you begin heat compression, swelling/inflammation is the body's natural reaction to drain the area and help heal.

 

[b0b]

Ice should only be used for swelling. Anything else, heat is the way.