Being Disciplined with Cold Therapy
Although taking a cold shower or ice bath after a workout may seem like a punishment, it is one of the most effective ways to help your body recover quickly. In fact, many athletes and bodybuilders use cold therapy to ease muscle pain and soreness. But for this type of therapy to work, it requires discipline. In this article, you will learn the importance of discipline in cold therapy.
What Is Cold Therapy?
Also known as cryotherapy, cold therapy uses cold temperature to treat a wide range of tissue lesions. This type of therapy helps to relieve pain, swelling, soreness, and sprains after surgery or an injury. Cold treatment involves using ice packs, gel packs, or cold therapy devices, depending on the type of injury being treated. If it’s a minor soft-tissue injury, you can treat it with an ice pack or gel pack. But if it is a serious injury that needs to be checked by a qualified medical doctor, you may be advised to use a cold therapy machine.
When you expose your injury to extremely cold temperatures, the blood vessels will become narrow, preventing blood from flowing to the affected area. This helps to reduce pain and swelling. It also promotes the production of anti-inflammatory proteins (IL-10) in your body, allowing the wound to heal quickly.
Why Discipline is Important to Achieve Cold Therapy Success
Self-discipline is an essential component of any treatment method. So, if you want your cold therapy sessions to be effective, you have to maintain discipline. Being disciplined is fundamentally important to achieving your therapy goals. It is very easy to lose consistency in your cold therapy treatment, which will soon turn out to be a stumbling block to your treatment success.
Being disciplined in one area will help you to be disciplined in all other aspects of your life. In cold therapy, discipline means being able to follow a routine consistently for the best results. If you are using a cold therapy machine under your medical doctor’s instructions, you must adhere to the guidelines given. You also need to be careful when applying cold temperatures on your skin, especially if you use an ice pack or frozen gel pack.
Unlike a cold therapy machine, ice and gel packs do not have a self-timer. Therefore, they are likely to cause frostbites if you leave them on your skin for a prolonged period. You also have to be disciplined enough not to do other things while applying cold temperature on your skin to avoid getting distracted. For more details, get in touch with MyColdTherapy today.
