Turn your home's heating tools into a therapeutic device!

With the frequent arrival of cold air, the temperature in Guangzhou has been dropping again and again, boosting the sales of various heating supplies and heating appliances, such as electric heaters, fan heaters, and heat packs. In fact, these heating products can not only bring warmth, but if you can use them well, they can become "physical therapy magic tools" to relieve your body's "little discomforts", such as stomachache, stiff neck, dysmenorrhea...

Warm baby, hot water bottle, electric blanket

Can relieve chronic gynecological diseases, dysmenorrhea, and chronic gastrointestinal diseases caused by uterine cold

Many girls don't like to wear bulky clothes in winter, so they buy hot packs and other heating pads to stick on their backs, abdomens, and feet, so that they can keep warm and look stylish at the same time. If women have dysmenorrhea or often feel cold pain in the lower abdomen, they can also stick a hot pack on the lower abdomen. Zeng Cheng, chief physician of the Women and Children's Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, explained that its thermal effect has a positive effect on improving pelvic blood circulation. In clinical practice, doctors also use uterine warming patches (containing medicine) as an auxiliary treatment for patients with lower abdominal cold pain.

The so-called uterine cold refers to the lack of warmth in the uterus due to kidney yang deficiency, spleen yang deficiency, or spleen and kidney yang deficiency, resulting in symptoms such as dysmenorrhea, menstrual disorders, cold lower abdomen, lower abdominal distension, excessive and thin leucorrhea, dysmenorrhea, fear of cold, frequent soreness in the waist and knees, cold hands and feet, and decreased libido. Women with spleen yang deficiency may also experience some digestive system symptoms, such as poor appetite, abdominal bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and loose stools. Zeng Cheng introduced that there are many causes of uterine cold, including congenital and acquired causes. Some people are born with weak constitutions and deficient Yang Qi, for example, their limbs are easily cold, which is particularly obvious when the temperature turns cold. However, many of them are caused by "acquired" unhealthy lifestyles, such as work stress, mental pressure, less exercise, etc., which can lead to more cases of deficiency constitution in modern women. In addition, unhealthy lifestyles such as improper daily conditioning, preference for cold drinks, revealing and thin clothing in winter, and too low air-conditioning temperature in the workplace allow external cold evil to invade the human body and damage the body's yang energy, making it more likely to develop uterine cold.

Zhuang Lixing, director of the Rehabilitation Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, added that many people still suffer from chronic gastrointestinal diseases, which are more likely to relapse or worsen especially in the cold winter. At this time, you can stick a hot water bottle or a heat pad on the upper abdomen, which will significantly improve stomach pain and diarrhea caused by cold.

Reminder: If your lower abdominal cold pain is caused by certain gynecological problems, such as gynecological diseases caused by uterine cold, you still need to go to the hospital for treatment. Chinese medicine doctors will use the four examinations and eight principles of diagnosis through observation, auscultation, questioning and palpation, and combine overall conditioning (such as decoctions, Chinese patent medicines) with local treatment (drug hot compresses such as warm uterus patches, double cypress ointment, etc.; physical therapy methods such as microwave or infrared lamps, etc.) to achieve better results. If your abdominal pain or diarrhea is an acute onset, it is also recommended to seek medical attention immediately.

Electric blankets can improve joint and muscle pain

Whether the patient is suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or senile arthritis, their joint disease is often more accurate than the weather forecast, and they become extremely painful once the temperature drops. From the perspective of Western medicine, this is because these patients have already suffered damage to their bones and joints, have allergic reactions to weather changes, and their joint capsules are sensitive to changes in air pressure. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the root cause of rheumatism is the lack of positive energy in the human body (including liver and kidney deficiency, insufficient qi and blood, and weak spleen and stomach function). This internal cause is mixed with external wind, cold and dampness. The interaction between the two induces rheumatism. Both Chinese and Western medicine believe that a damp and cold environment is harmful to arthritis.

For patients with joint pain, electric blankets can be used in spring, autumn and winter. Most rheumatic patients with joint pain mainly experience pain in the lower limb joints and often feel cold feet. At this time, you can place a single electric blanket horizontally under your legs to keep your lower limbs warm. If you have ankylosing spondylitis, you can place an electric blanket under your entire body.

Reminder: During the rainy season, even if the room temperature is not low, you can still turn on the electric blanket for a while before going to bed to remove moisture from the bedding, and then turn off the electric blanket before going to bed.

Hair dryer can relieve stiff neck, neck and shoulder pain

After taking a shower in winter, many people have the habit of blowing their hair with a hair dryer, otherwise the cold hair sticking to the scalp will be very uncomfortable. In fact, you can also use a hair dryer for heat therapy. Use a hair dryer to blow directly on the affected area, or directly on the relevant meridians and acupoints. Adjust the distance between the hair dryer and the skin according to the patient's tolerance, generally 15 to 20 cm. When blowing, you need to swing the hair dryer to achieve uniform warmth and intensified massage effect, until the skin in that area turns red and feels slightly hot. After the treatment, wipe off the sweat with a towel and keep the area warm.

Zhuang Lixing introduced that urban white-collar workers often sit for long periods of time, and the neck and shoulder muscles are prone to strain, which can cause neck and shoulder syndrome. Using a hair dryer to blow the painful area can improve blood circulation through the effect of heat therapy and can help relieve discomfort. In addition, it is also very beneficial for stiff neck. Stiff neck is caused by cold, which causes local muscles (trapezius muscles) to contract and harden, resulting in limited movement and pain. Use a hair dryer to blow on the painful area to drive away the cold through warm stimulation.

Reminder: People with yin deficiency, internal heat, excessive liver fire, or those who are in the inflammatory stage (such as redness, swelling, heat and pain in the joints) should not use a hair dryer, otherwise it will aggravate the condition. In addition, some articles on the Internet have "mythologized" the role of hair dryers. Hair dryers can improve symptoms for people with weak and cold constitutions or problems caused by wind-cold, but their effectiveness must not be exaggerated.

Electric heaters and fan heaters are helpful for colds

In winter, most people suffer from colds caused by wind and cold. In addition to the "catarrhal symptoms (runny nose, sneezing, etc.)", many people also feel cold necks and backs, and do not feel warm no matter how much clothes they wear. Zhuang Lixing explained that the bladder meridian is located on our back. Because it is relatively superficial, when wind and cold invade our body, the bladder meridian becomes the first "victim". At this time, if you have an electric heater or a fan heater at home, you can move a stool and sit in front of it, and use the electric heater or fan heater to warm your neck and back, which can help relax the meridians, dispel the cold, and disperse the external evils, and the symptoms of a cold can also be relieved. This works better in the early stages of a cold.

Reminder: The skin of the elderly, diabetics, and paraplegics is not sensitive to pain and temperature changes, so they must be accompanied and supervised when using it. Especially for diabetics, once a burn occurs, the wound is difficult to heal.