Using heat and cold to soothe arthritic aches and pains is a useful, inexpensive and natural alternative to reaching for the painkillers or anti-inflammatories. But which to use and when to use it, can be confusing.

Arthritis can take many forms, from osteoarthritis, to rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia and gout, to name a few.

The good thing when choosing between heat and cold, is that neither choice will do harm, if applied correctly and often it is a process of trial and error, to see what works best for you.

With this in mind, the one time when cold would be the obvious choice is when there is associated swelling, redness and/or increased temperature when you feel the joint, especially in comparison to the other side. This is often referred to as an ‘acute’ episode.  Ice or cold is a great choice in this instance, as it not only helps with pain relief, but can help to reduce swelling.  This is because it helps to constrict (narrow) the blood vessels and therefore slow the blood flow to the area, thus reducing ‘leaking’ of inflammatory exudate (fluid) from the affected joint.

Much of the time though, there is very little to observe with an arthritic joint, especially if it is deep within the body, such as the spine or the hip. Heat very often seems to soothe these more ‘chronic’  aches and pains, which may in fact be because heat is so good at helping muscles relax and muscle tightness often contributes to the pain associated with arthritis. This is because our body is working beyond our consciousness, to protect us from pain, so if for example a lower back joint (facet joint) is affected by arthritis, the body will try to restrict movement in the spine by tensing not only the lower back muscles, but often other ‘core’ muscles as well.  Another way to think of this, is that the muscles are on ‘red alert’. They are ready to tighten.

Heat will also increase the blood flow into any area of the body by dilating (opening up) the blood vessels. In the case of arthritis, this enhanced blood flow will help to fight the inflammation, by bringing oxygen and other nutrients to the area for repair and to eliminate waste products.

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