Dry cold is one of the most useful techniques for healing a multitude of
conditions. When we first receive an abrupt impact to the muscles of the
arms or legs, we may jump ahead in time and envision assisting the
circulation by applying heat. This is the worst mistake you can make at
the onset of the injury. A cold pack applied to an injured muscle,
whether it is from an impact alone, or from a slice or cut, receives two
benefits from the application of the ice pack. The first is the obvious.
Cold reduces swelling, and ultimately limits the injury to the surrounding
tissue. But the second benefit, which is for the most part never
considered, is that the application of cold to any part of your body will
send a signal to your body to turn up the heat. That heat will
come in the form of infrared energy, which in itself will speed up
healing.
This technique is effective for cuts requiring stitches. The experience
of a cut over the eye on an amateur hockey player, who received a cold
pack within minutes of the deep gash, was that when he arrived at the
hospital, his attending physician announced: "That's the cleanest cut I've
ever seen." The ice pack limited the swelling and it was an easy matter
to stitch the wound closed. With subsequent applications of cold three
times a day, the wound healed so quickly, that when the stitches came out,
and after two weeks, the injury was virtually gone - no mark, no scar, no
sign whatsoever that the cut had ever occurred.
The magic of the cold pack extends equally well to a burn. Just make
certain that the skin is not broken and the container for the low
temperature gel is sterile. Cold applied in this way, will reduce burn
swelling, and will promote rapid healing. Applications can generally
be applied for two to five minutes, three to five times a day.
In the 1980s a worker at a graphics company had been pulling and throwing
out heavy graphics paper for a few hours. The severe strain on the
muscles and tendons of the hand turned both hands into virtural claws.
They were extremely painful and stiff as breadsticks. Repeated immersions
of the hand in cold water for five minute periods over the next two days,
caused the hands to return to their original condition.
There is one more surprising application of cold therapy that many will
never consider nor benefit from. When the veins in the arteries have
swollen from straining at stool or during childbirth, hemorrhoids can be a
most unpleasant condition, though certainly not life threatening. Once
expanded, the veins will readily want to expand again, just like balloons
that have experienced their first inflation. The tendency is to use
topical ointments, the most notable of which contains aluminum that can be
readily absorbed into the body. A more drastic solution is surgery.
Neither of these has to take place. The condition can be effectively
controlled by the use of lozenge-shaped ice, wrapped in a sterile paper,
and pressed against the swollen area. The body will hold the icy
lozenge-shaped package in place, which will then begin to melt over the
next five minutes. Applying this technique for five minute periods four
or five times per day will result in a surprising improvement. With a
proper complementary diet, and the swellings reduced, it will be just as
if you never had the condition to start with. (To create the ice in the
shape of narrow fingers, you can either chop up ice cubes, or fashion the
molds in plaster of paris which can then serve as your ice tray.)
The final use for ice, which your doctor will never tell you, is upon the
conclusion to various operations. A 1990s cataract operation caused
severe headaches and heaviness to the eye which had been operated on.
When it looked like the only relief could come from pills, an attempt was
made by selecting a sterile towel and gently laying an iced gel back on
top of the eye. One minute treatments of gentle applications resulted in
a complete recovery, the total removal of all headaches, and the rapid
healing of the eye, as well as the perfect recovery of the vision
(although that was mainly due to an accurate eye measurement for the
creation of the artificially implanted lens.)
It never fails to amaze the author how many times the application of a
sterile ice pack to wounds, contusions, burns, and other conditions can
consistently inspire the body to turn up the heat and ultimately
reduce swelling and heal the body quickly and efficiently.
