When dealing with pain from a rotator cuff tear it's hard to know what treatment will work best for you. You might be wondering if ice and heat will work for you. Or maybe even which will work better - ice OR heat.

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 rotator cuff and shoulder injury healing as a means to soothe and heal.

We understand that it can get pretty confusing to figure out what conservative treatment method will work best with all of the treatment options available to you today. To get started, you should think about the benefits you'll get from using these therapies.

What's Better to Treat Your Torn
Rotator Cuff:Ice or Heat?

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

• You're looking to heal your rotator cuff / shoulder bursitis / biceps tendonitis / impingement naturally and want to boost the natural power of pain relief and healing in your body. Perhaps you want to get rid of shoulder pain or bone spur pain and inflammation
• You don't want to repeatedly pay the cost (both from your wallet and time needed for long-term healing) of injections, medications, hospital visits. Perhaps you want to try and avoid surgery - an option you want to avoid if at all possible.
• You want to reduce the risk of worsening your injury.
• You want to help prevent any future re-injury, pain, tear or swelling in your shoulder.
• You want to control your own treatment and recovery at home, on your own time.
• You're looking for a tried, tested, and true method of healing that has worked for countless other people that have suffered from rotator cuff pain.

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 shoulder.

A rotator cuff tear can happen to anyone, and right now there are thousands of doctors and PT clinics dealing with patients that require a solution to their shoulder injury fast and heal it (where possible).

If you want to be proactive about properly dealing with your bad shoulder, speak to your doctor about adding conservative temperature treatments to your recovery with AidMyRotatorCuff's system using a Cold Compress or Ice Pack and Circulation Boost with a Shoulder TShellz Wrap.

Note: If you have an Acute (recent, inflamed) Soft Tissue Injury, Do Not Use Heat.

Your doctor knows that the sooner cold is applied, the quicker you can reduce inflammation and achieve real pain relief. This will help reduce the chance of a much longer lasting chronic injury. Heat and inflammation are a bad mix and should not be used together. Heat is good at the spa - it will help your body relax, but when it comes to a swollen injury it is not a good idea, unless your physician specifically recommends it.

When To Use Cold:

A Cold Compress or Ice Pack work best to relieve pain, swelling and inflammation for new injuries, re-injury and during immediate post surgery recovery. A Cold Compress or Ice Pack should also be used during the first 24 - 72 hours of treatment, combined with resting your injury. Generally speaking, cold is recommended:

When to use a Shoulder TShellz Wrap (HEAT):

Use cold after any sort of activity causes you on-going pain.

When Should You Use A Shoulder TShellz Wrap^® On Your Shoulder?

Circulatory Boost treatments work best to increase blood flow circulation and relieve pain for older (chronic) injuries, re-injuries (after swelling has been reduced) and during long-term post surgery recovery.

Circulatory Boost should not be used directly after an injury, as you must wait for swelling to drop. Circulatory Boost treatments should not be started for a least 2 weeks after surgery because inflammation levels will be very high as the healing process starts over again. Any use of a TShellz Wrap^® should also be combined with gradual movement to stretch out your shoulder and increase range of motion.

If you have a chronic shoulder injury that keeps getting re-injured you should use a Shoulder TShellz Wrap before activity to loosen up your tissue (making it more flexible). This treatment is shown to increase the elasticity (flexibility) of the soft tissue in and around the treatment area, making it more pliable for activity and less likely to re-injure.

Sometimes we feel pain while doing a certain activity - should you still use a TShellz Wrap^®? Using a TShellz Wrap in the morning before you start your day or before activity can help to boost blood-flow and reduce risk of further strain or injury. Use cold part-way through your day after you have been active so you can decrease pain and inflammation from the flare up.

Using a Shoulder TShellz Wrap^® is a good long-term plan because it will help stimulate healing and can also be used on a preventive basis to relax constricted soft tissue. The use of a TShellz Wrap^® indirectly enhances the local blood circulatory system, increasing the supply of oxygen and nutrients - the energy your tissues require to heal.

What Makes the Shoulder TShellz Wrap Different?

With regular use of the Shoulder TShellz Wrap^®:

• Your pain will be reduced.
• In most cases, your body's healing process will be accelerated (due to enhanced blood circulation) with reduced potential for re-injury*.
• Your shoulder will have a larger range of motion and increased extensibility of collagen tissue. (Chapter 9 of "Therapeutic Heat and Cold", 4th edition. (amazon.com link Ed. Justus F. Lehmann, M.D., Williams, and Wilkin)

Our high quality wraps are registered with the FDA as medical devices which meet high manufacturing standards.

When it comes to using ice and heat for treating a torn rotator cuff, 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 / physical therapist has previously told them.

The only difference between using ice and heat is that 1 is better 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 the area which will stimulate the body's healing response.

Each temperature treatment has its own unique benefits for the rotator cuff, and when used together (not at the same time!) they provide a powerful advantage to long-term healing. You may already know that ice or heat feels better on your shoulder, and this could influence your decision too.

The bottom line is that ice and heat are exceptional, natural, pain relievers and healers for your rotator cuff injury.

COLD (ice) is used to treat injuries or conditions that are red, hot, inflamed, swollen and suffering from tissue damage (a tear or recovering from surgery). Cold is a natural / organic pain reliever that numbs pain right at the source of your injury. While doing this, the cold also stops cellular break-down and reduces the amount of scar tissue forming (this is very important after surgery).

When cold is applied to a rotator cuff injury, all of the soft tissue in the shoulder will squeeze on the veins to slow down your blood flow. This in turn clamps down on the amount of fluid leaking into your injured tissue, decreasing your swelling. This is why cold is used immediately to treat newer shoulder injuries or re-injuries. The cold slows down your body to stop the amount of damage happening to your tissue and decrease your swelling. This cold also has a nice side benefit of numbing the nerves in and around your rotator cuff thereby decreasing your pain.

In the medical world this is something called 'Vasoconstriction'.

Cold compression works best to relieve pain, swelling and inflammation for new injuries, re-injury and during immediate post surgery recovery. Cold therapy should also be used during the first 24 - 72 hours of treatment, combined with resting your injury.

If you've been suffering for some time with a chronic rotator cuff injury you should only use cold after activity causes you more pain or triggers more inflammatory response symptoms (red, hot, inflamed, swollen).. This would be when your shoulder starts to hurt at the end of the day after you've been using your arm for normal, daily tasks the entire day. When used at this time cold compression becomes a natural / organic pain reliever, treating the site where you feel the pain.

Sometimes we feel pain while doing a certain activity - should you still use cold? Too much cold therapy can reduce your ability to heal correctly, because cold is a short term pain reliever not a deep tissue healer.

This is important because once blood vessels are blocked or damaged, they can no longer carry oxygenated blood through the tissue and tissue begins to break-down. Without cold therapy, tissue damage and break-down continue as they cannot get the oxygen they need to survive. By limiting the amount of damage done to your shoulder, you also limit the amount of healing that needs to occur. This is an important step to heal rotator cuff injuries faster and with less pain!

HEAT (warmth) is used after you've reduced your swelling / inflammation and the sharp pain is less intense (you have more of a dull / nagging ache and soft tissue tightness in your shoulder). Warming up your tissue is a natural way to encourage blood flow to soft tissue. Increasing the temperature of soft tissue will result in increased blood flow circulation. It's the blood in your body that will bring oxygen, nutrients and water (basically energy) to your injured shoulder to help with healing.

When heat is applied to the rotator cuff, your veins will start to get bigger (expand) to allow more blood flow through to your damaged or torn soft tissue. This in turn relaxes the area, making the tissue more flexible and elastic. This is why heat is used on older (chronic) injuries, to loosen soft tissue and bring in the blood flow needed for healing. Your body will begin to heal itself after it is injured - increasing your blood flow with heat will actually help accelerate this natural process.

Doctors usually call this process 'Vasodilation'.

The primary intent of a heat based application is to increase blood flow circulation and, as such, stimulate the body's recovery rate for older (chronic) or recent (acute) injuries, long-term post surgery recovery and more recently - for some regenerative therapies performed by doctors and PTs. Warmer temperatures should be used approximately 3 to 5 days after you first have the injury or even later if the swelling has not reduced significantly. Heat should not be started for a least 2 weeks after surgery because inflammation levels will be very high as the healing process starts over again. Any use of heat should also be combined with gradual movement to stretch out your shoulder and increase range of motion.

If you have a chronic rotator cuff injury that keeps getting re-injured you should use heat before activity to loosen up your tissue (making it more flexible). When used at this time the warm temperatures naturally extend the elasticity of rotator cuff soft tissue, making it more movable / pliable for activity.

Sometimes we feel pain while doing a certain activity - should you still use heat? Using heat in the morning before you start your day or before activity can help to boost the healing process and reduce your risk of re-injury. Too much heat (especially when you suffer a set-back with swelling / inflammation) can make your inflammation worse. A Cold Compress or Ice Pack should be used part-way through your day when you suffer from on-going pain and inflammation as it is a natural pain-reliever.

Using heat is a good long-term plan because it will help to stimulate healing and can also be used on a preventive basis to relax constricted soft tissue. We use warm temperatures / heat to speed up the process of baking something in the oven or melting the snow outside, your injury is no different. Heat will speed up the natural healing rate in your shoulder by increasing your blood flow circulation. This in turn brings all the components your tissue needs to heal - oxygen, nutrients, anti-bodies and energy.

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It may seem hard to believe, but our Shoulder TShellz Wraps^®, and accessory products will assist you in recovering from your injury by reducing your swelling and inflammation induced pain, maximizing localized blood flow and increasing the flexibility / Range of Motion (ROM) in the area.

Here at AidMyRotatorCuff we pride ourselves in helping you with your healing and recovery process. Everyone at AidMyRotatorCuff has tested and used the products, finding solutions to conditions that do not fit into the norm. This dedication to our customers and our products goes hand-in-hand with our guarantees to you as a customer:

• Guarantee #1 - Use your products diligently for up to 60 days and you will experience a significant reduction in pain. If not, I encourage you to send back the items for a 100% refund.

• Guarantee #2 - You will not be left in the dark after purchasing any product from us. AidMyRotatorCuff Advisers and Product Specialists are available Monday to Friday by toll free phone 1-866-237-9608 or email to answer your questions or concerns.
• Guarantee #3 - Your order is guaranteed to be shipped within 24 hours on every business day.
• Guarantee #4 - All purchases receive a one year, full replacement warranty with guaranteed, prompt service.
• Guarantee #5 - You could save hundreds of dollars and possibly more, by utilizing our products, and getting back to work sooner.

Learn more about Shoulder Surgery and Post-Surgery Recovery

Learn more about The TShellz Wrap

Learn more about which is better for your rotator injury - ice or heat

During your recovery, you will probably have to modify and/or eliminate any activities that cause pain or discomfort at the location of your soft tissue injury until the pain and inflammation settle. The more diligent you are with your treatment and rehabilitation, the faster you will see successful results!