HEAT AND COLD THERAPY FOR NECK PAIN
Most physiotherapy visits here begin with heat and cold therapy. A cold pack calms a fresh neck injury or a flare-up, and a hot pack or infrared heat table loosens stiff, guarding muscles so the stretching and decompression that follow go further. Your physician picks which one you get.
Your physician decides on this treatment and picks its strength. You only get it when it is on your orders.
What do we use?
Hot packs, cold packs and an infrared heat table, placed over the back of the neck and the tops of the shoulders. There is always a towel layer between any pack and you.
How does it help?
Cold slows swelling and dulls pain in an injury that is only a few days old. Heat brings blood into tight muscles and lets them relax, which is why it comes before the traction chair and neck decompression.
Choosing between ice and heat at home is a separate question. Our article on ice or heat for neck pain covers it, including why neither one settles arm pain from a pinched nerve.
What does it feel like?
Heat should only ever feel warm. Cold starts cool and turns slightly numb. Five minutes in, your technician raises the pack and checks your skin.
Who should not have it?
- Skin in the area that is numb or does not feel normally
- Heat on a swollen or bruised injury that is no more than three days old; you get cold in its place
- Cold if you have Raynaud’s, break out in hives from cold, or have poor blood flow in that area
- Open wounds, rashes or burns
- Heat over the belly or lower back while pregnant
- Fever or an active infection
Before each visit, your technician asks the safety questions out loud. If anything has changed since last time, a physician decides before the treatment starts. Say the word and we stop, any time.
How long does it take?
About 10 to 15 minutes.
What to remember
- Cold for new pain or a flare, heat for stiffness.
- Warm is right; hot is wrong, so speak up.
- There is always a towel between you and the pack.
Show us you have it: Describe your home routine: heat or cold, how many minutes, and what sits between your skin and the pack. At your next visit we go over it again, and we are glad to repeat any step you want to see twice.
Other treatments in the program
- Neck Decompression Therapy in St. Louis
- Vibration Therapy for Neck and Shoulder Injuries
- Traction Chair Therapy for Neck Pain
- Laser Therapy for Neck and Shoulder Pain
- Shockwave Therapy for Shoulder and Upper Back Pain
- TENS Therapy for Neck Pain
This is one part of our physiotherapy program for neck pain. Every treatment here is ordered and overseen by a physician who has examined your neck, and none begins until a physician is on site and ready to step in at once.
Find out whether this treatment fits your neck
A physician examines you first and writes the orders. Bring any scans and a list of what makes your neck or arm worse.
12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 302
St. Louis, MO 63044
Next to DePaul Hospital, just off the 270 and 70 junction, west of the airport.