Treatments for osteoarthritis: hot packs & cold packs

Professor Kim Bennell, physiotherapist

A hot pack as the name suggests is a bag or a pack that contains material such as a gel or wheat that can be heated up and so the bag is placed over the painful area and the heat is good it warms up the skin and that can help with muscle spasm, with reducing pain perhaps reducing the feeling of stiffness.

A cold pack as the name suggests is a pack that contains material that can be frozen or cooled down and placed over the painful part and that can help again reduce pain and spasm so both hot packs and cold packs can be used to achieve similar outputs. 

Some people prefer a hot pack some people prefer a cold pack and they both can help to reduce pain and reduce muscle spasm and sometimes a cold pack can be better if there's more inflammation in the joint or it's feeling swollen, or you've had an acute increase in pain whereas a hot pack might be more beneficial over the longer term.

Risk of using hot and cold packs

Professor Kim Bennell, physiotherapist

Whilst hot and cold packs may seem fairly simple treatments there are still risks associated with their use especially for people who have impaired sensations so for conditions such as diabetes or peripheral vascular disease.