Heat Application in Physiotherapy

[Padawan787]

So after releasing the stretch I should continue to apply cold water?

or should I make the stretches longer than 1min then, Otherwise the repeated warm-up and cool-down periods would be far too time consuming

[XitemeM]

Well, in my opinion I think it would be more effective to do one good heat stretch and one good cool stretch. Or... several heat stretches and then one cold stretch right at the end. Another thing is that at a cold temperature there's greater risk of injury, so it should be something to be handled with care after conditioning.

[Padawan787]

The risk of injury is a very good point, so in order to reduce this risk I should minimise my exposure to "cold stretches" while trying to maintain its effectiveness.

So i have come up with this:

Warm-up + "hot stretches" 10mins
jelqs + v-jelqs 15 mins
"Hot stretch" 2mins
"Cold stretch" 3-5mins

I think this is a good way of incorporating cold stretches into my routine, a total of 12mins of hot stretches enables greater elasticity and by finishing with a prolonged cold stretch I should cement any gains from plastic deformation while also minimising my exposure to injury because the cold stretch is performed only once

Thoughts?

[XitemeM]

I think that does look pretty good Padawan. Except be careful it's not too hot. A longer time applying the heat is more effective at penetrating than a higher temperature is.

[namsokiek]

After looking further the abstracts of the following studies (http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/1267581/reload=0;jsessionid=E20F31ECE0914FA674C34F18FDF907 5C, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1267581 conclude the following:

"The data showed that the low force, long duration procedure was very effective at producing residual elongation. Elevating tissue temperature and maintaining it prior to applying force was found to cause significantly less damage; and finally, the lower loads applied at elevated temperatures for prolonged periods were found to produce significantly greater residual elongation."

Their studies heated the tissue to 37C (98-99F)
Used Low-Load Prolonged Stretch while maintaining temperature
Allowed the stretch site to cool in the elongated position.

So how well does this translate to PE? How long do you need to hold the stretch? Is a 20min hanging rep sufficient time? Do you only need to maintain temp at body temperature or does it need to be higher? How long do you need to maintain the stretch after heat has been removed?

I've got to figure out how to maintain temp with my ADS. I think I'll add heat differently during my hanging sessions. The heat pad doesn't feel too effective.

[XitemeM]

Good find namsokiek. I think a reasonable approach is to incorporate it into what we already know (or at least practice). During a manual routine the stretching part is probably around 20 minutes or so, and we already know that 15 minutes warm up is a good warm up time. I'm guessing 15 minutes is also a decent amount of time for the cool down. I'm just a little concerned about hanging heavy whilst applying cold temperature. Maybe lower the weight for the cool down. How about 15 min warm up, 20 min hang with heat, 15 min light hang with cold? Just a starting suggestion..

[namsokiek]

You know, I don't think it needs to get too cool (although I didn't read the entire method in the research). I was thinking about a good warm-up, hanging 5 lbs and adding heat for about 15 min, remove heat for the remaining 5 min (maybe fan it with my hand). Repeat for each set.

[User235]

After looking further the abstracts of the following studies (http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/1267581/reload=0;jsessionid=E20F31ECE0914FA674C34F18FDF907 5C, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1267581 conclude the following:

Really interesting study. Because of the age of publishing only the abstract is available on line. Would you happen to have the whole publication available? I know it's unlikely this study is available in a digital format but thought I'd ask anyway.


.

[namsokiek]

Sorry, User235, That is all I found. You're right though, it would be really interesting to read their methods and findings.

[Padawan787]

I just had a thought, this could be very stupid though

Instead of using a rice-sock to warm up, or warm water in the shower etc. could you use a hair-dryer? It would be much hotter than other methods