Common first aid treatment of ice and hot compresses In the emergency room, it is common to see patients with various sprains or burns. Some patients know that they need to apply ice first when they have a sprain, while others do not have any treatment, what a great loss! Now the editor has compiled a pre-hospital first aid strategy for patients with sprains or burns, hoping to learn from each other and pass on to friends around who need it for perioperative recovery. Ice or heat, depending on the actual situation. Should I ice or heat be applied? Many people are confused, because ice has the benefits of ice, hot compresses have the reasons for hot compresses. First, the principle of ice and hot compress ice compress to stop bleeding and swelling, hot compress to accelerate metabolism. Second, the function of ice and hot compress ice is mainly to lower the local temperature of the body, subcutaneous vasoconstriction, reduce local blood circulation, reduce the permeability of blood vessels, to reduce metabolism, hemostasis and swelling effect. In addition, ice can also reduce the muscle spasm caused by the injury, to avoid secondary damage to tissue cells. Hot compress is to let the body temperature rise, blood vessels relax, increase the local blood circulation, accelerate the metabolic rate of the injured area, so that inflammatory substances are quickly discharged, to enhance the self-healing power of the tissue. In addition, hot compresses can also soften the body, increase the ductility of soft tissues, reduce the chance of joint stiffness and muscle spasm, and achieve the effect of pain relief and relaxation. The timing of ice or heat compresses should be chosen according to the actual condition of the body, not just based on the time after the injury. Whether ice or heat, have the effect of pain relief, but if used incorrectly, it may make the injury more serious, or even lead to new injuries. For example, if ice is applied for too long, the tissue will easily become necrotic due to frostbite; hot compresses immediately after a foot sprain will make the ankle more painful and swollen; hot compresses are too hot, resulting in skin burns, etc. Note: Patients with diabetes, stroke and abnormal blood circulation should be extra careful when applying ice and heat. If the body has open wounds, or the skin is particularly sensitive to temperature, ice and heat should be avoided. Foot sprain can not blindly hot compress or knead, soft tissue injuries generally include sprains, muscle strains, bruises, etc., joint sprains within 24 hours suitable for cold compresses, when the blood vessels are in an open state, cold compresses can stop bleeding and promote coagulation, relieve pain. And 24 hours after the blood vessels have stopped bleeding, when the hot compress (about 50 ℃ hot towel) is more conducive to blood circulation, promote the role of the recovery of the injury site. Therefore, after the sprain, the use of “cold compress after hot compress” method, more conducive to the recovery of the condition. Note: 1, immediately after the injury can not massage and hot compress, because it will increase the swelling. 2, the best topical drugs are used one to two days after the injury. Treatment steps: 1, immediately brake, the patient comfortable position, stabilize the injured part. 2.Use an ice pack, ice pad or cold towel as a cold compress. Reduce swelling, bruising and pain, pay attention to prevent frostbite, so ice bags, ice pads outside the wrapping layer of fabric. Cold compress time is generally in half an hour, stop an hour in the middle after the second cold compress. 3.Wrap the injured part with a bandage or cloth, etc., to make the injured limb, ice bag fixed, reduce swelling. 4.Lift the injured limb to a position higher than the heart to reduce swelling and bruising. 5.If the injury does not appear to be serious, instruct the injured person to let the injured part rest and continue to apply cold compresses for 2-4 hours until the swelling and pain subsides, and seek medical assistance if needed. 6.Send the injured person to hospital for treatment if the injury is serious. Burns and sprains are handled differently after burns, the first thing to do is to rinse with a lot of flowing cold water, so as to effectively reduce the local temperature of the skin and stop the high temperature from further damaging the deeper layers of the skin. Generally speaking should be rinsed for about 15 minutes, the water flow is not too large, otherwise it will wash away some skin tissue. It should be noted that the damaged skin after burns has lost the protection of the epidermis, the rinse water temperature can not be too low, not to mention the ice, so as not to frostbite again; while the skin is not broken sprains, bruises should be iced within 48 hours to reduce local pain and swelling, but each ice time should not exceed 20 minutes, and it is best to wrap the ice pack with a towel to avoid frostbite skin. When dealing with burns, do not take off the clothing that is attached to the skin, apply scissors to cut the clothing and then flush it with cold water. After the burns, the skin resistance is poor, it is easy to infection, so after the cold water rinse, it is not recommended to use some prescription ointment coating, such as honey, toothpaste, soy sauce, etc., so as not to increase the chance of infection. In addition, you should not use band-aids to avoid secondary infection due to poor drainage of secretions.