Ice bag or hot water bag [which one to use?]

• Do you feel confused when it comes to choosing between filling your bag with hot water or ice?
• Do you feel unable to distinguish between the pros and cones of each one of them in every case?
• Are you willing to know when you are supposed to employ hot water or ice within your bag?

Well, you are in the right place!

It may seem for many of us that using a hot water bag is very similar to the ice bag. But, there is a huge difference between them.

So, in order to distinguish between when to use each one of them, I advise you to read these lines!

First of all, I will show you some pros of using each medium, in order to grasp which one would be useful to your hardship.

Then, you will be able to decide when to fill your bag with the right water temperature.

So, if you are looking forward to grasping every single detail about when to apply heat or cold methods, then this article is exactly made for you.

Hot water therapy

No one can deny the fact that using heat therapy brings you comfort and relief in a variety of ways, such as:

• Relieving back pain
• Reducing belly fat
• Helping women during their pregnancy and period

And many other exquisite benefits…

You can check them out for more information by clicking here.

The reason why some doctors recommend using heat therapy is that the warmth inside your bag has a substantial effect on your muscles, bones, and tissues.

How?

The heat helps you overcome your pain, because it increases your blood flow, stimulates the expansion of your blood vessels and also brings you relaxation when you have muscle cramps.

So, when you apply your hot water bag upon the targeted area, it will relieve your pain and eventually soften your tension.

But it doesn’t mean that you are obliged to fill your bag only with hot water!

Because heat is not always the perfect option for you!

You will find out soon!

Ice bag therapy

It is obvious that Ice bag technique is mostly used when it comes to an injury or a headache.

Your cold bag helps you in a variety of ways such as:

• It heals inflammations
• It reduces the swelling
• It wards off the perspiration

All you have to do in some cases is to fill your bag with ice or cold water and apply it over the targeted zone.

Thus you will overcome your pain efficiently and smoothly.

But I remind you that you need to know exactly when to use the perfect method at the perfect time.

Because ignoring the presence of some guidelines can make your medium useless or worse, it can be risky!

Briefly, make sure you fulfill the needs of every situation that you come across!

When to use your ice bag?

From now on, you should fill your bag with ice when you encounter some of these issues, as long as you follow their instructions, such as for:

• Injuries: Never place ice directly on your injury, so fill your bag with some cubes of ice and place it over the targeted area.

But avoid using it if your injury is so much open because it can provoke irritation, and remove your bag once you witness a color change of your injury.

Thus, this process will stop bleeding into the tissues as well as it will reduce the swelling.

• Inflammations: You are allowed to use your ice bag In this case too, as it can reduce your awful pain by reducing the blood flow around the affected area. So eventually it will heal you slowly.

But you must not maintain it for so long, just in order to avoid any damage to your skin.

• Headache: Working all day without taking any rest may bring you head pain, so you can use an ice bag to alleviate it.

It can bring you relaxation and relief from your headache for a short time. This usually has no bad outcomes.

When not to use your ice bag

As I said before, there are some limits to using cold therapy. In other words, it can carry some risks.

So, if you are among the people whom I will announce in the next lines, you must forget about using your ice bag.

But, whom this is for?

Well, most doctors recommend not using ice methods for some patients such as:

• Diabetics: If you are among those who suffer from diabetes, you are not supposed to use an ice bag.

Because many researchers have proved that cold therapy can increase your muscle sensitivity and it can eventually promote more absorption of glucose from your blood.

• People with sensible skin: If you have sensitive skin, then I highly advise you to forget about using cold therapy, as it can bring you more side effects like dermatitis or worse, it can damage your vulnerable skin.

• People with heart diseases: Cold therapy can be harmful to people who suffer from heart diseases or cardiovascular problems. Because it may decrease their blood flow and can probably lead to a heart attack.

So if you are among these people, then you should call your doctor before using your ice bag to prevent any bad outcome.

When to use a hot water bag

As well as cold therapy, a hot water bag is also an exquisite medium for you to overcome some kinds of pain such as:

• Muscles pain: Apply your hot water bag upon the affected area, and witness the great relief from your pain.

Actually it helps you to maintain heat within your muscles tissues, which heals them smoothly and naturally.

• Chronic pain: Like relieving back pain, shoulders pain or neck pain. And for women, it can really be useful during pregnancy or their period.

Because it brings you comfort and relaxation just by increasing your blood flow as well as promoting better sensation.

• Stress and anxiety: In this case, your hot water bag is an exquisite medium for you to get over your stress.

As long as it stimulates your nervous system and makes you feel smoother and happier.

So try using your hot water bag when you come across one of these symptoms.

When not to use a hot water bag

Pay attention! You are not always allowed to use heat therapy. Especially if you find yourself in some situations like:

• Injuries: Do not ever use a hot water bag over your injury; it may cause some awful outcomes. Because the mission of heat is to increase blood flow and eventually more bleeding and this is not the result that we want to achieve!

• Inflammations: In this case, ice always wins, because if you try to heat an inflammation, this would increase its volume, so it won’t be healed but it will get worse. This can complicate your situation.

• Cardiovascular problems: As I explained before, both ice and heat are not useful for people who suffer from heart diseases. So try to talk with your doctor before using any one of these methods.

Potential outcomes

If you witness any kind of changes to your body while using an ice bag or hot water bag, then you should search for the symptoms in order to know what you should do.

But take it easy, it’s not too dangerous if you abide by the previous settings.

For example, if you witness a lot of perspiration on your body while using your hot water bag, then you should ask a specialist about it.

Moreover, if your ice bag didn’t manage to heal your inflammation or injury within a short period of time, then you should see a doctor.

And so on…

Just don’t panic, both methods are so efficient when the pain is not so serious to worry about.

What you should grasp

It is very important for you to be cautious when it comes to distinguishing between heat methods and cold methods for healing your pain.

Certainly, both of them can be very useful to us in a variety of ways. Because they are sufficiently favorable and exquisite.

But they can also be risky in some cases if we don’t pay attention to the upper guidelines.

So, the main idea here is that hot water bags can overpower cold methods when it comes to relieving muscle pain or stress and anxiety.

But, it is the other way around when it comes to healing injuries properly and naturally or alleviating headache slowly and smoothly.

All in all, I can assure you that you are now able to distinguish between what suits you and what can be harmful to you as long as you are not skipping the informal instructions.