 Hot Applications can help with the following: | |  | | | Infections |  Colds and Influenza | One way of enhancing the immune system is by using different forms of heat. A common way of avoiding colds is to take a good hot soak periodically during cold weather followed by a quick cooling rinse. Another method is to take a sauna followed by a cold shower. This hot-cold cycle is usually repeated at least twice and works best if done at the very first indication of a viral infection. |
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Musculo-Skeletal |
Osgood-Schlatter Disease| | If your pain is mild, you can probably continue to participate in your sport. Using a heating pad or warm, moist compresses at the site for 15 minutes before activity and/or using ice for 20 minutes after activity may help. |
Costochronditis| | Ice packs or heating pads - whichever technique helps to decrease the pain - may help you to better manage the pain of costochdritis. |
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Skin-Hair-Nails |
 Boils, Abscesses, Carbuncles| | The main treatment for most boils is heat application, usually with hot soaks or hot packs. Heat application increases the circulation to the area and allows the body to better fight off the infection. As long as the boil is small and firm, opening the area and draining the boil is not helpful, even if the area is painful. However, once the boil becomes soft or "forms a head" (that is, a small pustule is noted in the boil), it is ready to drain. Once drained, pain relief can be dramatic. Most small abscesses, such as those that form around hairs, drain on their own with soaking. On occasion, and especially with larger boils, these will need to be drained or "lanced" by a healthcare practitioner. Frequently, these larger boils contain several pockets of pus that must be opened and drained.
Apply warm, moist compresses for 20 minutes, 4 times a day to encourage circulation and resolution. Take showers instead of baths (baths can spread infection) and keep the boil covered with a clean bandage. |
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Uro-Genital |
Vulvodynia / Vestibulitis| | Soothing relief may be obtained by applying warm soaked tea bags to the area. This can be done by placing the tea bags on menstrual pads to hold them in place or you can take a sitz bath in which tea bags have been soaked. |
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KEY | | Likely to help | | | Highly recommended |
GLOSSARY
Boil (Abscess, Abscesses, Boils, Carbuncle, Carbuncles, Cystic Acne, Furuncle, Furuncles, Hidradenitis Suppurativa, Pilonidal Cyst, Pilonidal Cysts)
A localized infection deep in the skin. A boil generally starts as a reddened, tender area. Over time, the area becomes firm and hard. Eventually, the center of the abscess softens and becomes filled with white cells that the body sends to fight the infection (pus). Finally, the pus forms a "head" and drains out through the skin. A furuncle or carbuncle is an abscess in the skin caused by the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. It can have one or more openings onto the skin and may be associated with a fever or chills. Cystic acne is a type of abscess formed when oil ducts become clogged and infected. Cystic acne is most common in the teenage years. Hidradenitis suppurativa is an illness in which there are multiple abscesses that form under the arm pits and in the groin area. These areas are a result of local inflammation of the sweat glands. A pilonidal cyst is a special kind of abscess that occurs in the crease of the buttocks. These frequently form after long trips that involve sitting.
Immune System (Immune Response, Immunity)
A complex that protects the body from disease organisms and other foreign bodies. The system includes the humoral immune response and the cell-mediated response. The immune system also protects the body from invasion by making local barriers and inflammation. The process may involve acquired immunity (the ability to learn and remember a specific infectious agent), or innate immunity (the genetically programmed system of responses that attack, digest, remove, and initiate inflammation and tissue healing).
Menstruation (Menses, Menstrual, Menstrual Cycle, Menstrual Cycles, Menstrual Flow, Menstrual Phase, Monthly Cycle)
The periodic discharge of blood, tissue fluid and mucus from the endometrium (lining of the uterus) that usually lasts from 3 - 5 days. It is caused by a sudden reduction in estrogens and progesterone.
Pus
White cells that the body sends to fight an infection.
Pustule
Small elevation of the skin containing pus.
Sitz Bath
Immersion bath.
Last updated: Apr 13, 2008
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