Cold therapy versus heat therapy

In an interview at the Fetch dvm360^® conference in San Diego, Matthew Brunke, DVM, DACVSMR, CCRP, CVPP, CVA, shared instances when cold therapy or "cryotherapy" versus heat therapy should be utilized, plus he warned of what to be mindful of when incorporating these treatment methods.

View the video below for the entire discussion. The following is a partial transcript:

Matthew Brunke, DVM, DACVSMR, CCRP, CVPP, CVA: If it's something new, acute inflammation, [then] use cryotherapy. That's when you want your ice pack—[the] first 3 to 5 days after an injury. So whether that's a surgical incision or [the pet] recently sprained [their] own ankle, ice it for 3 or 4 days to get the swelling down. Cold therapy decreases circulation to an area. It's going to decrease pain [and] decrease swelling, so for those acute things that are puffy and warm, we want to get them chilled out. After day 5, now we can start to bring in warm therapy to help bring in circulation, [and] promote blood flow to an area so it starts to feel better.