A physician at Back Pain STL examines your back, decides whether this belongs in your plan and writes the order. A trained technician carries it out exactly as written. Nothing starts unless a physician is in the clinic and free to come to you right away.

What is it?

Your low back gets a hot pack, an ice pack or time on an infrared heat table. It runs about 10 to 15 minutes.

How does it help a sore back?

A low back in a flare tends to lock up. The long muscles along the spine clamp down to shield it, and that clamping turns into a second source of pain. Cold calms a fresh flare and quiets the pain signal. Heat brings blood into stiff muscle and makes it willing to let go.

That matters for what comes next. Traction, vibration and your exercises all work better on a back that has stopped bracing.

What does it feel like?

Heat should feel warm and comfortable, never hot. Cold starts out cool and turns slightly numb. There is always a layer of towel against your skin, never the pack itself. At the 5-minute mark your technician lifts it and checks the skin.

Who should not have it?

• Numb skin or skin with poor feeling, often seen after back surgery or with diabetic nerve damage
• Heat on a back injury less than 3 days old that is swollen or bruised; you get cold instead
• Cold if you have Raynaud’s, a hive reaction to cold, or poor blood flow in that area
• An open wound, rash or burn on the back
• Heat over the belly or low back if you are pregnant
• A fever or an infection

Your technician reads the safety questions out loud before every visit. If your answers have changed, the physician decides before anything starts. You can ask to stop at any point.

More on this site: lower back spasms, why back pain flares.

Other treatments in the program

• Vibration platform
• Traction chair
• Laser therapy
• Shockwave therapy
• TENS

This page is part of our physiotherapy program for back pain, where a physician orders, supervises and re-checks every step.