Ice Massage is a brief application of an ice bar over a body segment. This will cause anesthesia to a painful area. Since pain sensation is decreased, the part treated with ice massage can be exercised, stretched, and massaged, where as without the treatment, there would have been too much pain.

Uses

• Acutely painful joints and adjacent tissues (bursitis – inflammation of bursa or pain between bone and muscle or tendons.
• Painful muscles and other soft tissues (strains, trauma, myositis – inflammation of muscle tissue caused by infection).
• Acute neck, shoulder, and lower back pain.

Items Needed

• One or two Styrofoam cups with ice in them.
• Two hand towels.

Treatment Procedure

1. Pray
2. Explain procedure
3. Make sure person is warm
4. Peel ½ of the cup away
5. Rub your dry hand on the area to which ice is to be applied to reduce the initial chill of the ice.
6. Rub ice in a circular motion over the painful area and a little way beyond it on all sides and keep the ice continuously moving.
7. The person will experience 4 stages:
   • cold, uncomfortable sensation;
   • burning feeling;
   • aching of short duration
   • relative numbness (about 7-10 minutes) area should be reddened in color
8. Terminate the treatment at this time by drying the area
9. Exercise muscles involved and massage deeply.
10. Can do a second treatment, if needed.

Cautions

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Stroke
• When person is cold