When dealing with a strained hamstring it's hard to know what treatment will work best for you. You might be wondering if ice and heat will work for you. Or maybe even which will work better - ice OR heat.

Icing and heating are 2 of the most natural treatment options available. Compared to medications, surgery and other treatment methods - icing and heating have been around for centuries and have always been used for hamstring injury healing as a means to soothe and heal.

We understand that it can get pretty confusing to figure out what conservative treatment method will work best with all of the treatment options available to you today. To get started, you should think about the benefits you'll get from using these therapies.

Ice and heat are the best treatment combination for you if:

• You're looking to heal your hamstring muscle quickly and want to boost the natural power of pain relief and healing in your body. Perhaps you want to get rid of leg pain or bone spur pain and inflammation.
• You don't want to repeatedly pay the cost (both from your wallet and time needed for long-term healing) of injections, medications, hospital visits. Perhaps you want to try and avoid surgery - an option you want to avoid if at all possible.
• You want to prevent any future injury, pain, strain, pull or spasm in your hamstring muscle.
• You want to prevent your hamstring injury from worsening.
• You want to prevent any future re-injury, pain, tear or swelling in your leg.
• You want to control your own treatment and healing at home, on your own time.
• You're looking for a tried, tested, and true method of healing that's been used for centuries and has worked for countless other hamstring pain sufferers.

Combining cold and warmth is a simple yet effective way to get immediate pain relief and promote long-term healing. In your lifetime you've probably had your mom, family doctor, nurse, surgeon or physical therapist tell you to use ice right after you're injured and something warm from time to time once the swelling's gone down. It's a simple yet very effective way to relieve pain and promote healing in your hamstring.

Hamstring injuries can happen to anyone, right now there are thousands of doctors and physical therapists dealing with patients that require a solution to treat their hamstring injury fast and heal it (where possible).

If you want to be proactive about properly dealing with your hamstring injury, speak to your doctor about adding conservative temperature treatments to your recovery with AidYourHamstring's system using a Cold Compress or Ice Pack, MendMeShop Arnica Pain Cream, and Soft Tissue Therapy via a Leg T•Shellz Wrap^®.

Superior Technology

When It Comes to Soft Tissue Injury Treatment, a T•Shellz Wrap^® is Superior to Heat; so instead of talking about heat, lets talk about the T•Shellz Wrap^®

Use a T•Shellz Wrap^®, NOT Heat

The idea of using heat was to try and get your body to circulate more blood into your injured tissue. The problem is that most heat doesn't get down below the sub-dermal skin layer - as such it is largely ineffective. This is why our STR Therapy wraps are superior to heat. Each STR Therapy Wrap emits a uniform wave of healing electromagnetic energy over the entire treatment area. This energy travels deep inside the soft tissue in your joint where it is absorbed. Once this energy is absorbed, some of the energy is converted to heat, wherby the body responds to this heat by increasing blood flow in the treatment area to dissipate this heat. It is just the same as a heat application was intended to do - only the T•Shellz Wrap^® does it better. The electromagnetic energy is CRUCIAL to the healing process as this how heat is generated in deep tissue - exactly where you need it.

Electromagnetic energy waves (EMR) are not Heat Waves. When they are emitted from the T•Shellz Wrap^® they penetrate right through your skin and fat layers until they get to denser soft tissue such as your ligaments, muscles, and tendons. EMR waves are absorbed by this dense soft tissue and this absorption of energy results in increased bloodflow .... that's Enhanced Healing Power (EHP) -right at the location of the injury.

The use of ElectroMagnetic Energy is the only way that will provide the STR Therapy effect deep in the body where it is needed. The TShellz Wrap is a flexible, therapeutic wrap that can significantly increase bloodflow at the source of your injury! The Deep Tissue Repair process is something you will find nowhere else.

Electromagnetic Energy => Increased Blood Flow => More Oxygen, More Nutrients and Less Toxins => Faster Healing

Using heat when the energy is only pushing into the top layers of the skin won't give you deep tissue healing. In this case, the blood is actually rushing AWAY from your hamstring to the surface of your skin - exactly the opposite of what we want.

If you try and heat deep tissue from the surface, you will find that little, if any, heat will reach there. The skin and fat layer below the skin are very efficient insultaors - they protect extreme temperatures from penetrating. There's even a condition for overuse of a skin-level heat source called toasted skin syndrome, hot water bottle rash, fire stains, laptop thigh, or granny's tartan.

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Note: If you have an Acute (recent, inflamed) Soft Tissue Injury, Do Not Use Heat.

Your doctor knows that the sooner cold is applied, the quicker you can reduce inflammation and achieve real pain relief. This will help reduce the chance of a much longer lasting chronic injury. Heat and inflammation are a bad mix and should not be used together. Heat is good at the spa - it will help your body relax, but when it comes to a swollen injury it is not a good idea.

When To Use Cold:

A Cold Compress or Ice Pack work best to relieve pain, swelling and inflammation for new injuries, re-injury and during immediate post surgery recovery. Cold therapy should also be used during the first 24 - 72 hours of treatment, combined with resting your injury.

When to use a Leg TShellz Wrap (HEAT):

Use cold after any sort of activity causes you on-going pain.

When Should You Use Heat (via a Leg T•Shellz Wrap^® To Treat Your Hamstring?

STR Therapy treatments work best to increase blood flow circulation and stimulate healing for older (chronic) injuries, re-injuries (after swelling has been reduced) and during long-term post surgery recovery.

STR Therapy should not be used directly after an injury, as you must wait for swelling to drop. STR Therapy treatments should not be started for a least 2 weeks after surgery because inflammation levels will be very high as the healing process starts over again. Any use of STR Therapy should also be combined with gradual movement to stretch out your leg and increase range of motion.

If you have a chronic hamstring (or quadriceps) injury that keeps getting re-injured you should use a Leg TShellz Wrap before activity to loosen up your tissue (making it more flexible). This treatment is shown to increase the elasticity (flexibility) of the soft tissue in and around the treatment area; further to this, heat will also lengthen soft tissue. The benefits of increased length and flexibility of soft tissue mean it will be more pliable for activity and less likely to re-injure (important).

Sometimes we feel pain while doing a certain activity - should you still use a deep heat treatment? (TShellz Wrap)? Applying a heat treatment in the morning before you start your day or before activity can help to boost blood-flow and reduce risk of further strain or injury. Use cold part-way through your day after you have been active so you can decrease pain and inflammation from the flare up.

The application of deep heat via the Leg T•Shellz Wrap^® is a good long-term plan as you will find it to be a highly beneficial tool for soft tissue injuries - both in the recovery process as well as for long term re-injury prevention healing. It can also be used on a preventive basis to relax constricted soft tissue. STR Therapy enhances the local blood circulatory system, increasing the flow of nutrients your tissue needs to heal - oxygen, nutrients, anti-bodies and energy.

What Makes the Leg TShellz Wrap Different?

The TShellz Wrap is a wholesome healer!

Instead of having the heat energy force itself into your body by heating up the skin first, the Leg TShellz Wrap emits an electromagnetic energy (EMR) that penetrates deep into your tissue creating the heat right down in your injured tissue. This means that instead of trying to heat from the outside in, you're using another method to to get the energy straight inside; EMR energy passes right through the skin and is absorbed by deep dense tissue - exactly where it is needed.

The only way to get Soft Tissue Rehab is through use of a TShellz Wrap. The TShellz Wrap is the only treatment method available for use at home that improves blood flow and circulation on a deep tissue level. As we mentioned before, other methods (like hot water bottles, hot baths, etc) will only ever increase blood flow on a surface / skin level. These methods need a LOT of time to even reach your deep tissue. And even if you were to use them this long, your skin would heat up to an uncomfortable level and you might even get burned!

What exactly has changed the way heat therapy works? With modern medical advancements, electromagnetic energy is used to generate deep tissue heat for healing with Soft Tissue Repair Therapy (STR Therapy).

With regular use of the Leg TShellz Wrap:

• Your pain will be reduced.
• Your damaged tissue will heal at an accelerated rate while reducing your risk of re-injury.
• Your hamstring will have a larger range of motion and increased extensibility of collagen tissue. (Chapter 9 of "Therapeutic Heat and Cold", 4th edition. (amazon.com link Ed. Justus F. Lehmann, M.D., Williams, and Wilkin)

Our high quality wraps are registered with the FDA as medical devices which meet high manufacturing standards.

The main symptoms of a hamstring injury are:

• sharp pain or twinges along the length of the hamstring or at a specific point on the back of the thigh
• tenderness or muscle spasm in the hamstring muscle
• stiffness
• difficulty in straightening your leg
• limping when walking
• weakness and/or inability to run

When it comes to using ice and heat for treating hamstring injuries, it's important to keep in mind that both ice AND heat are very effective ways to relieve pain and heal. Most people will think one is better over the other from their own experience or what a doctor / physical therapist has previously told them.

The only difference between using ice and heat is that 1 is better for you at a specific time in your healing cycle. Ice is used first, right when you get your injury, to decrease pain / swelling and inflammation. Once swelling has reduced, we then focus on heat based treatments to increase blood flow circulation in deep tissue which will stimulate the body's healing response.

Each temperature therapy has its own unique benefits for hamstring healing, and when used together they provide a powerful advantage to long-term healing. You may already know that ice or heat feels better on your leg, and this could influence your decision too.

The bottom line is that ice and heat are exceptional, natural, pain relievers and healers for your hamstring injury.

There are cases where some hamstring injuries will respond better to 1 temperature over the other. We want to help clear up the confusion so you know which is better (icy cold or gentle heat) and how to get the most from your treatment at home.

Part 1: Cold
Ice / Cold as Pain Relief for Your Hamstring Injury

COLD (ice) is used to treat injuries or conditions that are red, hot, inflamed, swollen and suffering from tissue damage (a tear or recovering from surgery). Cold therapy is a natural / organic pain reliever that numbs pain right at the source of your injury. While doing this the cold also stops cellular break-down and reduces the amount of scar tissue forming (this is very important after surgery).

When cold is applied to a hamstring injury, all of the soft tissue in the treatment area will squeeze on the veins to slow down blood flow. This in turn clamps down on the amount of fluid leaking into your injured tissue, decreasing your swelling. This is why cold is used immediately to treat newer soft tissue injuries or re-injuries. The cold slows down your body to stop the amount of damage happening to your tissue and decrease your swelling. This cold also has a nice side benefit of numbing the nerves in and around your hamstring thereby decreasing your pain.

In the medical world this is something called 'Vasoconstriction'.

Cold compression works best to relieve pain, swelling and inflammation for new injuries, re-injury and during immediate post surgery recovery. Cold therapy should also be used during the first 24 - 72 hours of treatment, combined with resting your injury.

If you've been suffering for some time with a chronic hamstring injury you should only use cold after activity causes you more pain or triggers more inflammatory response symptoms (red, hot, inflamed, swollen). This would be when your hamstring starts to hurt at the end of the day after you've been on your feet, active in athletics, or performing any other tasks that has put a lot of weight or stress on your hamstring. When used at this time cold compression becomes a natural / organic pain reliever, treating the site where you feel the pain.

Sometimes we feel pain while doing a certain activity - should you still use cold? Too much cold therapy can reduce your ability to heal correctly, because cold is a short term pain reliever not a deep tissue healer.

This is important because once blood vessels are blocked or damaged, they can no longer carry oxygenated blood through the tissue and tissue cells begin to break-down. Without cold compression therapy cellular break-down and tissue damage continues as the cells don't get the oxygen they need to survive. By limiting the amount of damage done to your hamstring, you also limit the amount of healing that needs to occur. This is a very important step to heal hamstring injuries faster and with less pain!

Part 2: Heat
Heat for Hamstring Injury Recovery

HEAT (warmth) is used after you've reduced your swelling / inflammation and the sharp pain is less intense (you have more of a dull / nagging ache and soft tissue tightness in your hamstring). Warming up your tissue is a natural way to encourage healing of your deep tissue. Increasing the temperature of your deep tissue will result in increased blood flow circulation. It's the blood in your body that will bring oxygen, nutrients, antibodies and energy to your injured hamstring to help with healing.

When heat is applied to the body, veins will expand to allow more blood flow through to your damaged or torn soft tissue. The heat relaxes your hamstring, making the tissue more flexible and elastic. This is why heat is used on older (chronic) injuries, to loosen tissue and bring in the blood flow needed for healing. Your body will begin to heal itself after it is injured. Increasing your blood flow with heat will actually speed up this natural process.

Doctors usually call this process 'Vasodilation'.

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For many people, the treatment won't just end there. Stretching is also an important part of hamstring healing - and it's the final step needed when healing your hamstring muscle injury with conservative treatment methods.

You would be suprised by how many people there are that don't understand the importance of stretching a hamstring injury. Before returning to full activity after a hamstring injury, physical therapists prescribe gentle stretching... This is because stretching is the secret of healing any muscle injury. Consistent stretching is one of few solutions available to help break up scar tissue that forms on your hamstring as it heals.

Read more about hamstring stretching here.

It may seem hard to believe, but our T•Shellz Wraps^® home therapy devices & accessory products will assist you in recovering from your injury by reducing your swelling and inflammation induced pain and maximizing blood flow where it's needed most.

Here at AidYourHamstring we pride ourselves in helping you with your healing and recovery process. Everyone at AidYourHamstring has tested and used the products, finding solutions to conditions that do not fit into the norm. This dedication to our customers and our products goes hand-in-hand with our guarantees to you as a customer:

• Guarantee #1 - Use your products diligently for up to 60 days and you will experience a significant reduction in pain. If not, I encourage you to send back the items for a 100% refund.

• Guarantee #2 - You will not be left in the dark after purchasing any product from us. AidYourHamstring Advisers and Product Specialists are available 7 days a week by toll free phone 1-866-237-9608 or email to answer your questions or concerns.
• Guarantee #3 - Your order is guaranteed to be shipped within 24 hours on every business day.
• Guarantee #4 - All purchases receive a one year, full replacement warranty with guaranteed, prompt service.
• Guarantee #5 - You could save hundreds of dollars and possibly more, by utilizing our products, and getting back to work sooner.

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I want to learn more about Surgery & Post-Surgery Recovery

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During your recovery, you will probably have to modify and/or eliminate any activities that cause pain or discomfort at the location of your soft tissue injury until the pain and inflammation settle. Always consult your doctor and/or Physical Therapist before using any of our outstanding products, to make sure they are right for you and your condition. The more diligent you are with your treatment and rehabilitation, the faster you will see successful results!