Function
Many episodes of pain come from muscle exertion or strain, which creates tension in the muscles and soft tissues. This tension can constrict circulation, sending pain signals to the brain. Heat application eases pain by:
- dilating the blood vessels surrounding the painful area. Increased blood flow provides additional oxygen and nutrients to help heal the damaged muscle tissue.
- stimulating sensation in the skin and therefore decreasing the pain signals being transmitted to the brain
- increasing the flexibility (and decreasing painful stiffness) of soft tissues surrounding the injured area, including muscles and connective tissue.
As many heating pads are portable, heat may be applied as needed at home, at work, or while traveling. Some physicians recommend alternating heat and ice for pain relief. As with any pain treatment, a physician should be consulted prior to beginning treatment.
Read more about this topic: Heating Pad
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)
“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.”
—Robert H. [Houghwout] Jackson (1892–1954)
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—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)