Heat therapy is a generic term for various applications in physiotherapy and physical therapy as well as balneotherapy. In general, heat therapy comprises all therapy methods in which heat is applied to the skin in various forms for mostly 20-40 minutes in order to achieve a blood circulation-promoting, metabolism-stimulating and muscle-relaxing effect.
Fields of application in physiotherapy
In physiotherapy there are many different areas of application and indications for heat therapy. Heat therapy includes applications such as hot roll, fango or mud packs or hot air, but also warm baths. The heat carriers cause a multi-circulation in the treatment area.
By this increased blood circulation the metabolism is clearly energized and waste materials are better absorbed. Thus heat therapy can be used particularly with chronic pain of the movement apparatus. These include muscle tension, arthrosis, intervertebral disc disease, back pain or shoulder and neck pain. Even in resting phases of chronic inflammatory joint diseases, heat therapy can be experienced as pleasant. Acute inflammations, open wounds or injuries, whose healing process is not yet complete, should be healed first, before the heat therapy can be used.
Duration and costs
The duration of the heat therapy depends on the type of therapy, on the treating therapy facility and on the heat transfer medium used. In a physiotherapeutic treatment an application usually lasts 15-30 minutes. This treatment time applies for example to a fango or mud pack or a warm bath.
The treatment with a hot roll, with hot air or ultrasound usually takes only about 10 minutes because of the intensity of the treatment. There should be a reddening of the skin at the end of the treatment, which indicates increased blood circulation. The costs of a heat application can be partially covered by health insurance if the treatment was prescribed by a doctor on a prescription. Except for a few exceptions, a personal contribution of 10% of the treatment costs is incurred, usually a heat application of 20-30 minutes is estimated at about 10 Euros. Thus the co-payment is about one Euro per treatment, usually a prescription is issued for 6 treatments.
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