Can heat compress be used during the remission period of chronic pain?

Hot compresses can be used during the remission period of most chronic pain, and the effect is pretty good. However, there are indeed a small number of special cases where hot compresses are not suitable, and applying them blindly will aggravate the discomfort.

I have been in the rehabilitation department for almost five years, and the most common patients I encounter are old patients with lumbar muscle strain, degenerative knee arthritis, and neck and shoulder myofasciitis. Many people do not have obvious redness, swelling, heat and pain during the remission period. They just feel stiff and sore after sitting and standing for a long time. Take warm water. Applying the bag for more than ten minutes is like slowly untying the twisted muscle fascia, local circulation starts to run, and the metabolic waste accumulated in the soft tissue can also be carried away with the blood flow, and the sensitivity of the nerves can also be reduced, and the pain and stiffness can be reduced a lot. There used to be a retired teacher who suffered from cervical and shoulder fasciitis for almost ten years. During the remission period, he applied it on his shoulders for 15 minutes every day when he got home from get off work. In the past six months, the number of stiff necks has been reduced by two-thirds.

But if you want to say that hot compress is omnipotent, that’s not true. Clinically, there are indeed voices against casual application, mainly for several special situations. For example, patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy have poor sense of temperature. Sometimes if the temperature is not high when you touch it, they may suffer from low-temperature burns after applying it for half an hour. If the blisters break, they are prone to infection. We generally do not recommend applying this at home. There is also a type of neuropathic chronic pain, such as post-herpetic neuralgia and thalamic pain. The patient's nerves themselves are in a hypersensitive state, and they are always causing abnormal discharges and throbbing pain. The warm stimulation of hot compresses is equivalent to adding strength to the already noisy nerves. I met an uncle with post-herpetic pain before. I heard from my neighbor that hot compresses are useful. He went home and applied hot compresses for ten minutes. The pain kept him awake all night. When he came to the clinic the next day, his face was white. In addition, if the nature of the pain suddenly changes during the remission period, for example, it was soreness and swelling pain before, and recently a burning pain occurs suddenly, and the local area feels a little hot to the touch, then don’t rush to apply it. It is best to see a doctor first to see if there is an acute inflammation attack.

In fact, for ordinary patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, it is very simple to judge whether they can apply it. You can try it with a warm towel for five minutes. If you feel comfortable and the stiffness and pain are relieved after applying it, then feel free to use it. Control the temperature at 40 to 45 degrees. Okay, don’t apply it directly to the skin. Apply it with a thin towel for 15 to 20 minutes each time. There is no need to buy those hot compress packs that cost hundreds of dollars and advertise “medicine-penetrating and root-curing”. In essence, the effect is not much different from that of an ordinary hot water bottle. Don’t spend that money. If you still feel tingling and stiffness after applying it, it means that your pain type is not suitable. Just stop. There is no need to apply it forcefully.