Ice vs Heat for Treating Plantar Fasciitis Pain

When it comes to using ice and heat for treating a soft tissue injury, it's important to keep in mind that both ice AND heat are very effective ways to relieve pain and heal. Most people will think one is better over the other from their own experience or what a doctor or PT has previously told them specific to a previous treatment plan.

The only difference between using ice and heat is that only one is best for you at a specific time in your healing cycle. Ice is used first, right when you get your injury, to decrease pain / swelling and inflammation. Once swelling has reduced, we then focus on heat based treatments to increase blood flow circulation in soft tissue which will stimulate the body's healing response.

When dealing with plantar fasciitis, it can be confusing sometimes to determine what treatment will work best for you. Icing and heating are 2 of the most natural treatment options available. Compared to medications, surgery and other treatment methods - icing and heating have been around for centuries and have always been used for soft tissue injury recovery as a means to soothe and heal.

Ice and heat are the best treatment combination for you if:

• You're looking to heal quickly from your foot injury and want to boost the natural power of pain relief and healing in your body.
• You want to reduce repetitive costs (both from your wallet and time needed for long-term healing) of injections, medications, hospital visits or surgery.
• You want to decrease your risk of morbidity, as statistics show that plantar fasciitis is often a harbinger of ongoing, long term foot problems..
• You want to control your own treatment and healing at home, on your own time.
• You're looking for a tried, tested, and true method of healing that's been used for centuries and has worked for countless other soft tissue injury sufferers.

Combining cold and warmth is a simple yet effective way to get immediate pain relief and promote long-term healing. In your lifetime you've probably had your mom, family doctor, nurse, surgeon or physical therapist tell you to use ice right after you're injured and something warm from time to time once the swelling's gone down. It's a simple yet very effective way to relieve pain and promote healing in your injured, sprained, strained or torn tendon;, muscle or ligament.

Plantar fasciitis is very common, accounting for approx 10% of runner-related injuries; it is estimated that plantar fasciitis occurs in about 10% of the population - usually within the age range of 25 to 65 years.* There are thousands of doctors, podiatrists and physical therapists (PTs) dealing with patients that require a solution to treat their foot pain fast and heal it (where possible).

If you want to be proactive about properly dealing with plantar fasciitis (or any other soft tissue tear/strain of the foot), speak to your doctor about adding conservative temperature treatments to your recovery with AidMyPlantar's system using a Cold Compress or Ice Pack, MendMeShop Arnica Pain Cream, and Circulation Boost with a TShellz Wrap^®.

*Buchanan BK, Kushner D. Plantar Fasciitis. [Updated 2022 May 30]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK431073/

When To Use Cold for Plantar Fasciitis:

A Cold Compress or Ice Pack works best to relieve pain, swelling and inflammation for new injuries, re-injury and during immediate post surgery recovery. Although there is typically not much swelling associated with plantar fasciitis, the application of cold is still recommended to ensure inflammation and pain is minimized.

• 24 to 72 hours after your initial injury or when you first notice pain and swelling to stop tissue damage, relieve pain, and decrease swelling.
• After exercise, workouts or activity of any kind to prevent re-injury.
• Before and after surgery during rehabilitation to control pre and post-surgery pain and swelling.
• Anytime you feel your foot has been over-extended, over-worked, twisted, strained or sprained causing pain and swelling.
• Anytime you have swelling, sharp throbbing pain or inflammation.
• Any other situation where you need to draw the pain and inflammation out of your foot.

When to use HEAT for Plantar Fasciitis:

• When the swelling is gone (usually after applying cold compression to the injury over 24 to 48 hr period).
• BEFORE getting out of bed in the morning. BEFORE going to bed at night.
• BEFORE exercise, workouts or activity of any kind to increase length & elasticity of muscles, ligaments & tendons at the base of the foot. Increased elasticity and length of soft tissue is intended to help reduce risk of of re-injury.
• AFTER surgery (once the skin wound has healed over and your physician approves) to boost blood circulation, helping surgically repaired tissues rebuild for long-term health and minimize scar tissue growth at the surgery location.
• Anytime BEFORE you feel you might undertake activity that will put significant strain on your injured plantar.
• Any other situation where you need to increase blood flow to soft tissue in the foot to relax the area, relieve pain / spasms, prevent re-injury and enhance flexibility of tissue in the treatment area.

You Have A Strained Quadricep Injury That's Been On-Going For Quite Some Time.

You haven't felt any pain in the area for the last week or so. You're having a "good day" (your injury is feeling fine) and decide to head out for some grocery shopping. You realize afterwards that was a bad idea because your quadricep is now quite painful.

Use COLD on your quadricep to stop further damage/micro-tearing in the muscle and help ease inflammation and pain.

Before getting active next time, do light stretches and apply a Leg TShellz Wrap^® treatment to the affected area for 10 to 15 minutes before undergoing strenuous activity. It will help limber up the area temporarily and lower the risk of re-straining the injury during this period.

You Pulled Your Calf Muscle A Couple Weeks Ago And Just Tweaked It Again

If pain persists and there is swelling, then apply a Cold Compress or Ice Pack as needed to reduce the radiating pain and any potential inflammation.

If there is no inflammation and little pain but you feel like the area is tightening up, use the TShellz Wrap^® treatment when getting up in the morning or before undertaking activity.

Use cold after any sort of activity causes you inflammation and/or on-going pain.

When Should You Use A TShellz Wrap^® On A Plantar Fascia Strain?

Circulatory Boost treatments work best to increase blood flow circulation, maximizing the body's ability to stimulate healing. The heat effect is also helpful for soft tissue flexibility, helping minimize risk of re-injury during long-term post surgery recovery - once inflammation has been reduced. You will most likely find the TShellz Wrap^® to be especially beneficial when dealing with chronic injuries (old, persistent) - heat, combined with enhanced bloodflow can have a very stimulative effect on a chronic injury - helping pull the injury out of a downward spiral and back into a recovery cycle.

The TShellz^® Circulatory Boost Wrap should not be used directly after an injury, as you must wait for swelling to drop. TShellz treatments should not be started for a least 6 weeks after surgery because inflammation levels will be very high as the healing process starts over again. Use of the TShellz Wrap^® should also be combined with gradual movement to stretch out soft tissue and help increase range of motion to combat atrophy.

Increased Tissue Flexibility = Reduced Risk of Further Injury (or Re-Injury)

Soft tissue injuries can quickly become debilitating. At a minimum, they will impede your ability to continue your activities like you did before your injury. When dealing with shoulder, knee, wrist, hip and ankle injuries - they often seriously interfere with everyday tasks like getting dressed, driving, working or reaching for anything.

Using a TShellz^® Circulatory Boost Wrap is a good long-term plan as this will not only maximize the body's healing capability (the body repairs itself via the bloodstream) - it can also be used on a preventive basis to relax constricted soft tissue (increased elongation & flexibility of muscles, ligaments and tendons). The use of a TShellz Wrap^® indirectly enhances the local blood circulatory system, increasing the supply of oxygen and nutrients - the energy your tissue needs to heal.

You suffered from a tear in your deltoid (shoulder) muscle a few months ago, but since then the injury has healed a little and you no longer feel pain everyday.

You started playing in a new ball hockey league and notice your shoulder feels stiff the day after your practices and games. There's no pain, inflammation or swelling, just stiffness / soreness.

Use HEAT on your shoulder before your ball hockey practices and games to loosen up your shoulder. Heat can be used again the next day (right when you wake up and again at night before bed) if you notice any residual stiffness.

Before getting active next time, do light stretches and apply a Shoulder TShellz Wrap^® treatment to the affected area before undergoing strenuous activity. It will help limber up the area temporarily and lower the risk of re-straining the injury during this period.

You occasionally feel sharp pains in your inner thigh (groin) that shoot down from your hip.

You're not sure if you have an injury, but this pain seems to come and go only when you do a lot of walking, exercising or any twisting / pivoting on your leg. When you feel the sharp pain, the pain will continue to radiate in your groin for a few hours after and your muscle feels weak.

The sharp / throbbing pain lingers which means heat is not advised. Use a Cold Compress or Ice Pack as a natural pain reliever in the groin area. The cold will also decrease the amount of damage being done to the muscle tissue and help keep swelling down. If pain persists or worsens, go see your doctor to determine what is happening and ensure it is not a symptom of a more serious, life threatening condition.