This issue, like many similar ones, should not be resolved independently by the patient; the full participation of the attending physician is necessary here. There are too many different nuances in the treatment of osteochondrosis of the back, each of which is of great importance for the recovery process. This is, first of all, the patient’s condition, that is, the stage of development of his disease, and this is directly the type of thermal effect. The only thing that can always be used is a therapeutic belt for the lower back. The price of health is protection from additional colds.
This product itself, no matter what wool it is made of, does not warm anything, it only retains heat and prevents hypothermia. Moreover, if the doctor recommends any physical procedures, a woolen belt after they are completed is simply necessary. The rapid cooling of the muscles after warming up (and any procedures in the physiotherapy room are warming) extremely sharply “drops” the immune system, and therefore the inflammatory process gains strength.
Acute osteochondrosis of the back: is it possible to heat it?
The acute stage of the disease is always accompanied by excruciating pain, since the nerve endings compressed in the cartilage tissue suffer, and dystrophic disorders themselves cannot bring such sensations. In the affected area, the metabolic process is radically disrupted, and the cartilage tissue becomes thinner. In case of hypothermia, an acute condition inevitably occurs, and therefore back pain with osteochondrosis must be prevented. If the disease is advanced before the appearance of an intervertebral hernia, no doctor will allow warming procedures, since this is fraught with inflammation, which is very difficult to stop. However, it is simply necessary to buy a therapeutic belt for the lower back. It will be very good if it also has a muscle-supporting function.
It must be borne in mind that any, including lumbar osteochondrosis, develops very quickly and most often secretly, so treatment should be started as early as possible, without waiting for the onset of acute conditions, when the simplest movements cause excruciating pain. And in no case should you try to get rid of pain by warming up in the acute stage of the disease: hot baths, steam baths, even compresses are strictly contraindicated. Only a doctor knows for sure how to treat spinal osteochondrosis. That is why the patient should not take any action without consulting a doctor.
The only thing that is always possible is an orthopedic belt, which removes part of the load from the spinal column and thus prevents swelling and tension in the muscles surrounding the spine. The fact is that heating expands the tissues, swelling increases, pain becomes stronger, and the patient’s general condition worsens. Heat treatment in the acute stage of the disease is strictly contraindicated, and only a doctor knows whether it is possible to warm the back with osteochondrosis at one stage or another. Deep heating is especially harmful, since the inflammatory process quickly progresses, and the patient’s difficult situation is thus aggravated. Even worse is to let your back with osteochondrosis cool down. Therefore, the patient should temporarily forget about the hot bath, but constantly wear a woolen belt to maintain heat.
Indications
All recommendations for warming up for osteochondrosis relate only to the remission stage and can only be carried out after consultation with a doctor.
You can heat the affected area if:
- The patient experiences chronic, but not pronounced headaches.
- Sensitivity of the affected area appears.
- Movement of the neck is difficult, and general stiffness is felt.
- Along with the pain, there is noise in the ears and spots before the eyes.
Osteochondrosis of the lumbar region: is it possible to heat
Warming is not only possible, but even necessary, but this should only happen when the acute period has passed and remission has occurred. Acute osteochondrosis of the back produces symptoms so vivid that it is impossible to make a mistake, and nevertheless, in each individual case, deep heating should be prescribed by a doctor. Self-medication is unacceptable here: the consequences can be too unpredictable and severe. Usually the doctor adds a variety of physical procedures, massage, and therapeutic exercises to the drug treatment. These events cannot be rushed; everything must happen on time. However, even if acute pain is present, a woolen belt for the lower back is simply necessary. This is not a warming procedure, but rather preservation of natural heat in the lumbar region. Osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral region progresses from cold as quickly as from warming applied incorrectly.
In acute conditions, you cannot use pepper plaster, do a deep massage (or better yet, don’t need any), take hot water treatments, or use warming ointments. You can only wear an orthopedic belt that will support the muscles and keep them warm. There is no need to aggravate the course of the disease. And when remission occurs after the end of the acute condition (when pain due to osteochondrosis significantly decreases), the doctor will prescribe procedures in the physiotherapy room and allow you to warm up in a bathhouse or sauna, strictly observing all his instructions, since nothing excessive can now be allowed. The affected areas should be heated in such a way as to relieve the symptoms of lumbar osteochondrosis, and not add new ones to them. Self-medication can only lead to negative results.
Osteochondrosis: is it possible to warm your back in a bathhouse?
Having received permission from a specialist for warming procedures, you must definitely clarify all the options that will be used: sauna, massage, heating pads, compresses or something else. Home treatment for osteochondrosis involves more frequent visits to the bathhouse. In complex treatment, in addition to drug therapy, many tools for recovery are used, and none of them should be used without the advice of the attending physician. Any treatment of osteochondrosis with folk remedies must be consistent in both the duration and strength of the procedures. Usually, during the period of remission, patients are allowed a bath - both a Russian steam room and a sauna, because with such heating the affected area is better supplied with blood, which means it is provided with nutrients and oxygen.
Only a doctor can take into account all the contraindications, of which there are a great many. Not a single patient can fully foresee the effect of the procedure on the entire bouquet of diseases that he has. For example, a bath is contraindicated for neuralgia, anemia, and any heart disease. There is also hyperthermia, and, of course, any exacerbation of chronic diseases. This is why it is difficult for a patient to put all the puzzles into a single picture, and only a doctor can tell you how to treat spinal osteochondrosis in each specific case. The point is that the effects of the bath are very diverse. It actively helps treat osteochondrosis, but at the same time it is extremely easy to provoke a stroke in a hypertensive patient.
If the patient does not have such fatal diseases, the bath will be very beneficial for him: the heat kills pathogenic bacteria, which strengthens the immune defense, blood flow to the affected areas increases, which improves metabolic processes, metabolism accelerates, the person quickly removes everything harmful from the body and thus recovers. In the treatment of osteochondrosis, the bath is one of the most common methods. In addition, your mood improves after receiving a boost of energy from bath procedures, and this is also extremely important. During periods of remission, the doctor usually allows osteochondrosis to be treated with bath procedures no more than twice a week, and these recommendations must also be heeded. Otherwise, even the lightest steam can cause the most severe consequences.
How to warm your lower back in a bathhouse for osteochondrosis
You also need to warm up properly. First, the medicine prescribed by the doctor is applied to the affected area of skin with light massage movements. Typically, treatment of osteochondrosis during remission is carried out using special ointments. You need to enter the steam room no more than three times and do not stay there longer than five minutes. We must not forget that hypothermia in any form is destructive in this disease, and therefore contrasts are strictly prohibited: after a steam room - in a snowdrift or doused with cold water should not be used under any circumstances. After each trip to the steam room, you need a fairly long break, and after completing the procedures, it is imperative to put a woolen belt on your lower back.
There are other rules that must be followed strictly. A broom - hot, steamed - can be used. But warming up the inside with alcohol is absolutely a no-no. You cannot use home treatment for osteochondrosis using a bath on an empty stomach or immediately after eating. During the procedures you can only drink herbal tea and in small quantities. Otherwise, your health will deteriorate sharply, and treatment will not be beneficial. And you need to remember that only a doctor decides whether it is possible to warm the neck or back with osteochondrosis. And if possible, then all existing methods need to be discussed with him.
For example, the neck and shoulders with cervical osteochondrosis are lubricated with natural honey before visiting the steam room, and when leaving, you need to wrap yourself in something warm - for example, in a blanket, for at least two hours, which you need to spend in passive rest. And lumbosacral osteochondrosis is treated with medical cups on well-steamed skin, lubricated with cosmetic oil or Vaseline. Again, a doctor’s advice is necessary in every case. After any procedure, when leaving the bathhouse, you must protect your back from rapid cooling. Each patient will have to buy a heat preservation belt.
If you correctly use the beneficial heat of a Russian bath or sauna, you can significantly improve your health and postpone for a long time the onset of the acute condition of chronic osteochondrosis, the treatment of which, in principle, never stops, once started. Cartilage tissue is restored with great difficulty, and if it is damaged, the original state of the spine will never return. It is necessary to adapt to the new condition, do not stop prevention, never forgetting about the camel medical belt “LEONARD”, which the doctor recommends purchasing. This product is sold in pharmacies in Russia, or you can go to the website Apteka.ru, where you can choose the exact size and desired design of the belt, especially since delivery to any pharmacy chosen by the buyer in the country will be free.
What kind of disease?
In medicine, it is customary to divide the spine into 3 sections: cervical, thoracic and vertebral. Pathology most often affects one of these areas. Cervical osteochondrosis is considered dangerous, since the consequence is impaired blood circulation to the brain. Lifting weights is the reason why lumbar osteochondrosis develops. Symptoms of deviation:
- Cervical region: pain in the depths of the neck, chest, elbows, shoulders, aggravated by sudden movements of the head;
- joint crunch when turning.
- discomfort when inhaling, turning the body.
- the pain effect affects the entire back or lower part;
Why you need to buy a “LEONARD” belt
Many patients treat doctors' recommendations with distrust, and in vain. The fact is that it has been cooperating with pharmacy chains for a long time, since it is engaged in the production of medical products that have the appropriate technical and therapeutic characteristics. The products of this company are made from patented yarn and elastic fabric (patents No. 2289643, No. 2319800, respectively), and in addition, the finished products have a registration certificate from Roszdravnadzor No. FSR 2010/08307, without which it is prohibited by law to sell goods as medical. Sellers in online stores and in the pavilions of shopping centers and markets can tell as much as they want that they sell therapeutic and prophylactic belts, and this will not be true if Roszdravnadzor has not issued such a registration certificate to the manufacturer.
Moreover, such trade is a violation of Russian legislation and most likely a consumer deception. It often turns out that a woolen belt is not only not healing, but there is no wool in it at all. And the buyer finds out about this too late, when after the warming procedure it is impossible to retain the resulting heat and, accordingly, to receive a positive effect from the procedure is also impossible. It’s good if such a purchase does not bring complications. Even if the manufacturer has received a certificate from the SES or a certificate from Rostest for a consumer product, he does not have the right to call it medical, since these organizations cannot assign such a class to products. On the territory of the Russian Federation, when selling a product, it is possible to position it as medicinal only with a document from Roszdravnadzor. That is why doctors warn patients against purchasing such an important element of complex therapy, because too many fakes are sold that do not meet the quality of the task.
Bathhouse and osteochondrosis: can it be heated? conclusions
Steam is a very strong irritant for the entire body, perfectly activating its work. A lot can be said about the benefits of bath procedures, but when treating osteochondrosis, the main thing is that viruses are destroyed, pain becomes less, and muscle spasms stop. “Dead” skin is also removed, particles of which do not allow the pores to breathe, therefore all microcirculation systems are cleansed, improving their work in removing toxins from the body.
It is preferable to choose oak or nettle, juniper, birch brooms for bath procedures, and do not use them immediately, but only after the entire body has been completely warmed up. Between trips to the steam room you need to rest for at least half an hour, during which time it is good to take small sips of fresh herbal tea (you don’t need to drink a lot!). For example, you can warm your neck with osteochondrosis only, perhaps, in a bathhouse; all other procedures will affect nearby organs, for which heating is generally harmful. But even in a bathhouse, this type of disease does not tolerate a long procedure: two or three trips to the steam room for five minutes each, no more. Osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral region is warmed up a little more: three to four trips to the steam room for five to ten minutes. And from the second go you can already use a broom.
Is it possible to apply heat to the neck?
The general principle of treating cervical osteochondrosis is that you first need to relieve pain, and then eliminate tissue swelling.
This is followed by the restoration of blood supply and the creation of a muscular frame, which will avoid repeated displacement of the vertebrae. When warming up, the intensity of blood supply increases, which can lead to severe dilation of blood vessels and swelling of tissues, so you can’t heat the cervical spine too much, but moderate exposure to heat can be beneficial .