Is heat ever applied to inflammation?

[AbigailJo]

Forgive me if this is a silly question but....

is there ever a situation where you would want to directly apply heat to an area of inflammation? I was always under the impression you use ice.

Recently, I started studying for my RN health and safety class and the question wasn't even about heat compresses, it was about the nursing process, but it still threw me off:

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[TD=width: 100%, colspan: 2]"The nurse documents improvement of a patient's inflamed wound following the application of warm compresses. This is an example of which phase of the nursing process?"[/TD]

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Thanks!

Abby

[BeachsideRN, ASN]

Aren't you supposed to use heat for cellulitis? I think that's what I remember from last semester.

[ScrappytheCoco]

Try to think about why you would use ice vs heat depending on the patho of the wound or injury. What is actually happening when you apply heat?

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

The short answer is "yes." The longer answer is "it depends." You have to know the underlying pathophys of the process to determine when and if to apply heat. For injuries, you generally want to avoid heat for about 48-72 hours and then you can start applying heat before activity and cold after activity. Now, here's the thing you need to figure out... why you must wait that long before you can apply heat.

Go forth and do some research into heat and cryotherapy in injury physiology (because it does involve inflammatory processes).

[mago8388]

It might help wound healing by bringing in circulation and nutrient rich blood to the wound and prevent the tissue from becoming necrotic. Inflammation is not always a bad thing. That's the natural process of the body healing. And I think is part of the evaluation process because she's documenting get how the intervention of heat worked.