Heat and cold therapy uses a hot pack, a cold pack or an infrared heat table on the hurt area. It is usually the first step of a visit. Cold calms a fresh injury or a flare-up by slowing swelling and numbing pain.
Your physician orders this treatment and sets how strong it is. You only get it if it is ordered for you.
What is heat and cold therapy?
Heat and cold therapy uses a hot pack, a cold pack or an infrared heat table on the hurt area. It is usually the first step of a visit.
How does it help?
Cold calms a fresh injury or a flare-up by slowing swelling and numbing pain. Heat loosens stiff muscles and brings in blood flow, so the stretching and other treatments that follow work better. Your physician decides which one you get.
What does it feel like?
Heat should feel warm, never hot. Cold feels cool, then a little numb. There is always a towel layer between the pack and your skin, and your technician checks your skin after 5 minutes.
Who should not have it?
- Numb skin or poor feeling in the area
- Heat on an injury from the last 3 days that is swollen or bruised (cold is used instead)
- Cold if you have Raynaud’s, hives from cold, or poor circulation in the area
- An open wound, rash or burn
- Heat on the belly or low back during pregnancy
- Fever or infection
Before every visit, your technician asks safety questions out loud. If anything has changed, the physician decides before the treatment starts. You can ask to stop at any time.
How long does it take?
About 10 to 15 minutes.
What to remember
- Cold for a fresh injury or a flare-up; heat for stiffness.
- Warm, never hot. Tell us the moment it burns.
- A towel always sits between the pack and your skin.
Show us you have it: Tell us which one you use at home, for how long, and how you protect your skin. We go over it again at your next visit, and you can ask us to explain anything a second time.
Read more: why a soft tissue injury can hurt so much.
Other treatments in the program
- Vibration therapy
- Traction chair
- Neck decompression
- Laser therapy
- Shockwave therapy
- TENS (gentle electrical stimulation)
This is part of our physician-directed physiotherapy program, where a physician orders and supervises every treatment and no treatment starts unless a physician is available right away.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP. Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, Interventional Pain Management, Addiction Medicine, and Obesity Medicine. Last reviewed October 18, 2026.