When do I heat and when do I heat a hand, wrist or elbow?

Thermal Modalities

Thermal modalities are heating and cooling techniques used to bring relief the symptoms of ulnar nerve irritation to bring increased mobility/dexterity and decrease pain.

For the first two weeks after an irritation occurs, icing three times a day for 10 minutes. Make sure to have a piece of material between the ice and the skin so that to ensure that the area does not become too cold as it does not ‘feel’ as well as well innervated skin and follow manufacture's recommendations of commercially available ice packs.

A warm shower in the morning is typically enough heat to allow for a good conduction of healing.

Most people with nerve irritation cringe at the thought of using cold on their hands because warmth usually make the hands feel better and less stiff, but cold can help when things are inflamed and swelling.

The good news is that people should only use cold 1) when it works and they respond well to it and 2) should only be done to tolerance (not longer than 10 minutes of a upper extremity).

If someone is really adverse to ice, they can use the following:

~Crushed peas or corn because these frozen bags can contour to small areas better

~Cool water

~Raw rice left in a freezer (this won’t have the water content that ice doesn’t so it won’t get as cold)

Heat is used to improve mobility only when the elbow, wrist or hand is stiff, but no inflammation or warmth/redness is present. It can be used to help alleviate pain.

The following heating methods are popular:

~ Warm water (can be a bath or shower)

~ Paraffin Units (can be purchased commercially)

~ Towels dipped in very warm water and covered with another dry towel

You can use warmth to improve flexibility and decrease pain if no inflammation is present

* See Video content on how to relieve symptoms in the hand at www.handcoach.org for further instruction

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