Conditions Treated by Moist Heat Pads
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Do you often wake up in the morning with a crick on your neck? When engaging in strenuous physical activities, do you experience aches, pains and stiffness in your muscles? For these instances, most people rely on medication like over-the-counter pain relievers or one of those creams for muscle aches. What they do not know is that there is a more convenient and more effective way to help ease these muscle aches and pains.
Instead of relying on pills, you can go for an alternative form of treatment like moist heat therapy. Before enumerating the various conditions which can be treated with this type of heat therapy, here are a few basic facts that you need to learn about heat therapy.
Heat therapy can be classified into two: dry heat therapy and moist heat therapy. Saunas and electric heating pads are the forms of dry heat therapy that you can use. However, one disadvantage of undergoing dry heat therapy is that it tends to dry out the skin.
On the other hand, there is moist heat therapy which comes in the form of moist heating wraps, pads, hot baths and steamed towels. For the most part, individuals who are experiencing stiffness in their muscles prefer moist heat therapy because it provides better pain relief. The 'moist heat' penetrates deeply into the joints, soft tissues and muscles. As a result, the tight muscles in the affected area will be loosened and any muscle spasms will be reduced.
Now, here are the conditions treated by moist heat therapy:
• Chronic injuries
• Lower back pain
• Degenerative joint diseases
• Chronic arthritis
• Stiffness, pain and secondary muscle spasms
• 'Locked' joint conditions or acute temporomandibular
• Pain and muscle spasms in the neck
• Chronic myofascial pain syndrome in children
• Sub-acute arthritis
• Periathritis
• Bursitis
• Soft tissue trauma
• Traumatic arthritis
• Migraine headache pains
Remember that moist heat therapy should be applied during the first 48 hours of an injury for it to be more effective. A moist therapy wrap, for example, can be applied on the affected area within 20-minute intervals so that the swelling can be reduced and the pain can be relieved.
The Advantage of Moist Heat over Dry Heat
Depending on the type of injury or muscle pain that you have, one type of heat therapy will be more preferable over another. However, in most instances, moist heat provides more benefits as compared to dry heat therapy.
Moist heat manages to embed itself deeper into the tissue, which more effectively manages the muscle pain. When you compare dry heat and moist heat at the same temperature, the latter penetrates more deeply. Finally, moist heat can change the temperature of the tissue rapidly for better healing.
With all these benefits and more, you can easily conclude that moist heat therapy is more preferable to dry heat therapy. At the end of the day, what is important is that you can efficiently manage muscle pains, spasms and the stiffness in you joints with the use of the more effective type of heat therapy.
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