When to ice and when to heat an injury?

By Physiofusion Ltd

20 Feb 2019

When it comes to pain or an injury, there is often much confusion about when to ice and when to heat.

Therapeutic icing and heating are a safe, cheap and easy self-treatment option for many common painful problems, but knowing which one is correct for a particular issue leaves many of us unsure.

Heat and ice are recommended for a range of muscular skeletal injuries as ways of reducing pain, decrease swelling or increase healing. However, knowing how often and how long we should apply either of these methods for is also something we can be unsure of.

Hopefully we can help clear this up a little!

To begin with, whether we use the icing method or the heating method, 15-20 minutes on and off is usually considered a reasonable amount of time.

Ice should generally be used for injuries. Ice helps to calm down damaged tissues that have become inflamed, red, hot and swollen (usually from injuries such as, knocks, and sprains). As worrying as seeing our body parts inflamed can be, it is actually a healthy, normal and natural process – it is our bodies way of trying to protect itself. Icing is mostly just a mild way of calming the pain of inflammation and bringing the swelling down without having to use any form of drug.

The cold provides pain relief as it decreases the action of nerves in the area of pain and reduces blood flow, slowing down cellular activity.

Heat should be used on muscle issues, chronic pain, and stress. The heat from either a wheat bag or hot towel helps to take the edge off symptoms such as muscle aching, stiffness and chronic pain. It is particularly useful for back pain, helping to relieve the build-up of tension in the upper back, neck and shoulder area that so often comes from an issue with our back.

Heat on an injured area can provide comfort and pain relief due to the effects it has on nerve stimulation, as well as, increasing blood flow and cellular activity, which are important in encouraging the healing of damaged tissue. Heating an area can also help it to become more flexible.

The do’s and don’ts with ice and heat

Both ice and heat have the potential to do some minor, temporary harm when used incorrectly. Heat can make inflammation significantly worse and ice can aggravate symptoms of tightness and stiffness; it can also just make any pain worse when it’s unwanted.

Both ice and heat are pointless if used incorrectly or in the wrong situation.

We must be especially wary of icing muscle pain. It is quite easy to suffer with pain in our back that isn’t the cause of an “injury”. For example, muscle knots aren’t considered an injury – they are usually a symptom of an underlying issue. Physiotherapists use trigger point release to help muscle knots and if we don’t particularly know what we’re doing and we happen to ice trigger points, they can burn and ache even more acutely.

Heat and inflammation are the other particularly bad combination. Adding heat to a fresh injury will only make it worse. The heat will increase the swelling and unfortunately the pain!

The general rule is to ice and injury and to heat aches and pain, so you may be wondering, what do we do for muscle injuries (a muscle tear or muscle strain) then?

It’s not always that easy, but generally ice usually wins — but only for the first few days at most, and only if it really is a true muscle injury. A true muscle injury usually involves obvious trauma during intense effort, causing severe pain suddenly. If the muscle is truly torn, then use ice to take the edge off the inflammation at first. Once the worst is over, switch to heat.

If you are still unsure what to do with a particular issue, feel free to get in touch with your local physiotherapist, we’re always more than happy to help with anything like this.

If you’d like some advice on an injury or issue you have, you can call us on 01282 453 110 or use our FREE Ask A Physio service.

Latest news

1

Management buyout at Suresite Group Steve Holden

Management buyout at Suresite Group

17 Oct 2025

2

Meet the influencers who have generated £2m sales for one company Helen and Richard Chalu new

Meet the influencers who have generated £2m sales for one company

16 Oct 2025

3

WHN strengthens position in prestigious legal guide Daniel Long

WHN strengthens position in prestigious legal guide

16 Oct 2025

4

Warden appoints new commercial manager to strengthen project delivery and growth Peter Heskine

Warden appoints new commercial manager to strengthen project delivery and growth

16 Oct 2025

5

Stockley's finds its sweet spot Stockley's front view

Stockley's finds its sweet spot

15 Oct 2025

Background image for hub sign up block

LBV Hub

Leverage Lancashire Business View platforms

Post your news
Post your events
Post your offers
Build your network
Improve your SEO
Gain coverage in the magazine
Sign-up
Events
CMI Level 5 Project Management Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course

Preston Campus, Preston, PR1 2HE

08:00 - 17:00

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course

Preston Campus, Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 17:00

Help to grow management course
Help to grow - barriers to growth.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
26 Sep 2025 - 16 Dec 2025

Help to grow management course

Preston Campus , Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 15:00

RISE - Lancashire's unique leadership programme for women
thumbnail_Emma Weston Illustration WENDY BOWERS RISE Illustrstion.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
22 Oct 2025 - 18 Mar 2026

RISE - Lancashire's unique leadership programme for women

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, Clayton le Moors, BB5 5JR

09:30 - 15:30

Women scaling up Blackpool Fylde and Wyre
LBV Hub Seminars
22 Oct 2025 - 09 Jan 2026

Women scaling up Blackpool Fylde and Wyre

The Small Business Academy, Blackpool, FY4 5JX

09:30 - 15:30

HR Essentials for pubs, bars and licensed venues
EventBrite NORi - 22nd Oct Webinar.png.png
LBV Hub Webinar
22 Oct 2025 - 22 Oct 2025

HR Essentials for pubs, bars and licensed venues

Online - Teams, Leyland, PR253XH

13:30 - 15:00

Chamber Business Lunch – October
LBV Hub Networking
24 Oct 2025 - 24 Sep 2025

Chamber Business Lunch – October

Lancaster Golf Club, Lancaster, LA2 0AJ

11:00 - 13:30

North West Business Expo 2025
https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-880456273-4862066883-1-original.20241022-105445.jpeg.jpg
LBV Hub Exhibitions
24 Oct 2025 - 24 Oct 2025

North West Business Expo 2025

Bolton Stadium Hotel, Bolton, BL6 6SF

09:00 - 15:00

Lancaster District Business Support Expo
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
29 Oct 2025 - 29 Oct 2025

Lancaster District Business Support Expo

The Platform, Morecambe, LA4 4DB

10:00 - 15:00

Chamber Breakfast Networking – November
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
06 Nov 2025 - 06 Nov 2025

Chamber Breakfast Networking – November

Porsche Centre South Lakes, Carnforth, LA6 1FW

08:30 - 10:30

Lancashire Police business update with The Police and Crime Commissioner
Lancs-cham-logo.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Roundtables
10 Nov 2025 - 10 Nov 2025

Lancashire Police business update with The Police and Crime Commissioner

Lancaster Castle, Lancaster, LA1 1YN

14:00 - 16:00

AI, Creativity, and what it means to be human
2.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
11 Nov 2025 - 11 Nov 2025

AI, Creativity, and what it means to be human

Society1, Coworking Space, Preston, PR1 3LT

18:00 - 20:00

Advertise with us

Reaching 50,000 members, our print, digital and event platforms offer a fantastic way to raise your business profile and help you grow.

Find out more LBV124 Online Graphic
Subscribe now

Weekly news bulletin