REMEDY FOR INFLAMMATORY PAIN

If you’ve ever worked yourself into a knot of pain, you know how inflammation can render you immobile. Your muscles are spasming. Depending on the severity of this round, you’re looking at days spent in bed, pain medications with possible nausea. You are also likely aware that pain medications don’t always work. I suspect that pain medications are more often used to keep the patient quiet than they are to manage actual pain . . . but that’s just my opinion.

There is an alternative treatment that can untie those knots. It’s called HOT COLD treatment.

Using hot and cold compresses creates a pumping action. The cold pushes blood from the area. The warmth brings fresh blood into the area. This circulates the blood and reduces the level of inflammation in the blood stream. By reducing the inflammation, the pain will be decreased and mobility will be more quickly restored.

There are two methods to accomplish this.

METHOD 1 – HOT/COLD SHOWER
Stand under a shower with water running and aimed at the painful area. Turn the water on as cool/cold as you can stand for 15 seconds or so, then turn the water as warm/hot as you can stand it. Repeat this for 20 minutes or so (and yell as needed).

Method 2 – YOU MAY NEED HELP
Take 2 bath towels and moisten them (wet and then wring them out). Get one paper bag and place into it a single moistened towel. Set your oven on its lowest setting (100 to 170). Place the closed paper bag into the oven (be sure that it isn’t touching a heating element). Get another paper bag and place into it the remaining towel. Put this into the freezer.

START WITH COLD – END WITH COLD
After 15 minutes, place the cool towel onto the painful area and set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer rings, grab the towel from the oven and replace the warm towel with it. Return the cool towel to the freezer and repeat as long as necessary. Make it a relay, removing and replacing towels, alternating cold and heat.

Depending on temperature sensitivity, you may need to place a cloth between the towel and your skin as a buffer. I also recommend placing an insulating towel or blanket over the top to retain the heat/cold. Re-moisten the towels as needed. Remember to end the cycle with a cold towel.

I have done this through the night, napping 15 minutes at a time. It was worth it to lose only one night of sleep rather than days of productivity.

If you are in a remote area, use a fire to heat dry rocks and then wrap them in the damp towels. Be sure you use dry rocks, or they will explode in the fire. Use the towel-wrapped rocks for the warm compress. The towels damp with fresh water can be used for the cool compress. Fan the cool compress so that the moisture will begin to evaporate, making the compress even cooler. In a survival situation, the sooner everyone is at their best, the better. Inflammation from a strain or injury can lead to immobility. This is one way to combat that and get everyone back to 100% (or at least a good 75%).

This article is for information purposes only. Utilize these methods at your own risk and using your own discretion.