Pages

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Contrast Bath?

Today we learnt about physiotherapy during therapy class. He taught a lot, including cold and warm compression, hydrotherapy, sinapism, cupping. Btw he joked a lot also =). But one thing that caught my attention is contrast bath.

I am sure everyone know what is bath, and most of the people like to take a hot water bath especially after work, after exercise, after getting back from outside, because it helps to get rid all the sweat and also relax our muscles and stress. But what does it means by "contrast". Contrast mean one thing that is strikingly dissimilar to another. My teacher taught us that contrast means different, so contrast bath means when you are taking a hot water shower, then suddenly you turn off the hot water and turn on the cold water, then later switch back to hot water and do it for several times. This contrast bath gives stimulating effect. So we asked him what exactly is stimulated, he said hot water stimulates vasodilation, and cold water stimulates vasoconstriction, so by alternating hot and cold shower, it can "trains" (that's the word he used) your blood vessels to dilate and constrict. It also "trains" your body to produce and release heat. He said he personally enjoy this contrast bath. He said when a person takes a contrast bath, you can hear two sound, one is the shivering sound made by that person when taking cold water (and he imitated that sound), and second is the relaxing sound when taking hot water (and he imitated it again). =.=|||

Btw, he said we must donate some money to the poor, but at the same time must enjoy life. During the class he also told us about his "philosophy" and some teaching from al-Quran =.=||. But everytime after he taught a philosophy theory, he said," The conclusion is, you must enjoy life by taking contrast bath, and remember to take care the poor also. " =.=|||||||

Anyway, the textbook never write anything about this contrast bath, and since he keep saying we must enjoy life by taking contrast bath, so I tried to search it on the net, and this is what I found:

Contrast Bath therapy, also known as "Hot/Cold Immersion therapy", is a form of treatment where a limb or the entire body is immersed in ice water followed by the immediate immersion of the limb or body in warm water. The theory behind contrast bath therapy is that the warm water causes vasodilation of the blood flow in the limb or body followed by vasoconstriction. The effect is to pump out inflammation — although this has been called into question. Contrast bathing can be used to reduce swelling around injuries or to aid recovery from exercise.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_bath_therapy

Hydrotherapy is the use of water as a therapeutic agent. Water may be applied to an injury in the form of ice, heat, etc.The specific type of hydrotherapy to be discussed here is called Contrast Baths.

Technique:
  • Find 2 wash buckets/basins that can easily accommodate your painful body part.
  • Fill one basin with very hot water - as hot as you can comfortably tolerate (do not scald)
  • Fill the second with ice cold water - as cold as you can tolerate (ice cubes may be necessary)
  • Immerse your sore body part into the hot basin for 1-2 minutes
  • Immediately transfer into the cold basin and immerse for 30 seconds.
  • Repeat dipping for 5-10 transfers.
  • End your bath in the cold basin.
Perform this procedure one to two times per day.

The contrast of hot-cold creates a pumping of the blood in and out of the body part. The blood vessels dilate in the heat and constrict in the cold. Any stagnating swelling is reduced as it is pumped out of the body part. Inflammation is reduced as fresh blood and healing agents are pumped into the injured area. Pain is also reduced, as both hot and cold have anesthetic effects. Contrast baths are effective in helping carpal tunnel syndromes and hand / forearm tendinitis.
Source: www.ithaca.edu/faculty/nquarrie/contrast.html

A common treatment for sports injuries, such as a sprained ankle. Two baths or basins are used, one filled with hot water and the other filled with cold water. Plunging the injured part into the baths alternately stimulates blood supply to the immersed part, accelerates metabolic processes, decreases pain, and increases the elasticity of the ligaments. The ratio of heating time to cooling time is adjusted according to the likelihood of creating tissue swelling. Short periods in the hot water and longer periods in the cold water are used for acute injuries.
Source: www.answers.com/topic/contrast-bath

Wow, really got such thing even though the method is a bit different. I personally tried out the method that my teacher taught, but not as "stimulating" or "enjoying" as he mentioned, maybe it is due to the low quality shower system of the hostel.

P/S: If you want to try out, go ahead, but don't blame me if you don't have any stimulating effect, or if you get any bad side effect from it.

No comments:

Post a Comment