Heat nor cold ineffective for backache

Neither heat nor ice pack offers much help to ease back or neck pain, at least immediately.

Conventional wisdom holds that cold and heat therapy are effective ways to manage minor injuries such as sprains and strains. Often, the advice is to use ice immediately after an injury, then heat in the days afterward. But there has been relatively little scientific evidence to back up these recommendations. Few studies have compared heat and cold in helping to ease the short-term pain of strains. To test the efficacy of heat and ice packs in relieving neck and back pain, researchers from America identified 60 patients who came to the emergency room for minor strains in the back or neck, most often the back. All of the patients were given 400 milligrams of ibuprofen and randomly assigned to use either a heating pad or a cold pack for 30 minutes.

After the half-hour was up, it was found that patients in both groups typically reported mild pain relief. But the average improvement, as measured by a standard pain-rating scale, was not enough to be clinically meaningful.  And because both groups received ibuprofen what improvements there were may have been brought on by the painkiller.

The findings suggest that whether people choose heat or ice for back and neck strains, it is unlikely to bring quick benefits. The study did not, however, follow up with patients in the days after their injuries. So it's possible that either heat or cold, despite a lack of strong immediate effects, could have ultimately led to a quicker recovery.

COMMENT