Heat therapy is said to work because of its analgesic properties or its ability to bring blood to the area which can penetrate deep into the muscular tissue. However, heat therapy is also said to work because it is comforting on a psychological level. According to Lorimer Moseley “to reduce pain, we need to reduce credible evidence of danger & increase credible evidence of safety” and applying heat makes us feel safe. Why? Because the cold kills!
Despite this, there is little evidence to show that it helps alleviate pain at certain trigger points (small patches of acutely sensitive soft tissue) in the body and there is less evidence to show that it works for period pain. One study has claimed that heat can work for period pain however the researchers failed to differentiate if their exercise programme or the psychological effect of feeling warm eased their pain. This kind of testing means that other variables influence participants’ perception of pain and we can’t be certain if the heat therapy actually helped. What we do know is there are certainly drawbacks to this kind of treatment.
