Contrast therapy is a treatment technique that can be performed with the help of professional oversight or from the comfort of your home to help improve blood circulation and promote tissue recovery. The technique involves exposing a specific area of your body to contrasting environments; in this case, hot and cold temperatures. In today’s blog, we explore the benefits of contrast therapy for inflammation relief and injury recovery.
What Is Contrast Therapy?
Contrast therapy is a combination of two treatment techniques that oftentimes prove helpful in the injury recovery process. Heat helps to promote healthy circulation in an area, bringing oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to a specific area, while cold temperatures lead to blood vessel restriction, limiting fluid movement and working to protect against inflammation onset. When used in rapid succession, contrast therapy can help to promote ideal fluid movement in a specific area of your body, which can prevent excessive inflammation that can serve to slow the tissue recovery process.
Research has shown that contrast therapy can help to reduce:
- Muscle fatigue
- Muscle tension
- Muscle spasms
- Muscle pain
- Localized swelling
- Lactic acid buildup
Reducing these issues can help to improve range of motion and functional mobility in key joints or tissues, which is why contrast therapy is oftentimes recommended in a clinic or home-based setting.
How The Technique Works
Contrast therapy is performed using two separate vessels filled with water at different temperatures. Depending on which areas of your body are being targeted, these may be two large baths or much smaller containers in which a hand or foot can easily be submerged.
Each tub should be maintained in an ideal temperature range. The cold water tub is usually kept around 45-50 degrees, while the hot tub should be maintained between 100-104 degrees. Once ready, the patient will submerge the injured portion of their body into the heated tub for 3-4 minutes. At the conclusion of this period, the patient will move the injured area directly to the cold tub for one minute. After one minute is complete, you’ll transition back to the warm tub for another 3-4 minutes before returning to the cold tub for a minute, and you’ll repeat this process for 20-30 minutes.
To enhance the benefits of the technique, your physical therapist may have you perform some gentle movements and stretches while your body is in the heated tank. These gentle motions can improve joint mobility at a time when muscles and soft tissues are more relaxed. Patients typically do not move their joints when submerged in the cold water, instead letting the joint relax as muscles and blood vessels naturally constrict.
Contrast therapy can be helpful for a wide range of patients. We’ve recommended the technique for older patients working to ease arthritis-related symptoms, for athletes looking to combat lactic acid buildup and muscle fatigue following intense physical activity, or for patients hoping to restore normal function and mobility in the wake of a surgical procedure. It’s a wonderful complementary technique because it can oftentimes be performed from the comfort of a patient’s home to enhance their recovery efforts.
If you’re going to pursue contrast therapy on your own, be sure to keep a close eye on the water temperature, as water that is too hot or too cold can cause additional problems for your health. The technique may not be an ideal option for patients with nerve disorders that could be triggered by drastic changes in temperature.
So if you’d like to restore physical function, limit potentially problematic inflammation and help promote ideal recovery after activity or injury, consider a contrast therapy regimen. If you want professional help administering the technique or pairing it with a comprehensive recovery program, reach out to the team at OrthoRehab Specialists today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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