If you’re dealing with pain in Bowie and you make the smart choice of coming in to see us at CAM Physical Therapy and Wellness Services, your physical therapist will first develop a customized treatment program to address your problem. This program will include a number of different components that are each utilized to address different elements of your condition, such as stretching and strengthening exercises, hands-on manipulations performed by the therapist and a variety of modalities.

Modalities are treatment tools that are combined with other therapies to relieve pain, improve circulation and reduce swelling to produce a better outcome. Some of the most commonly used modalities in physical therapy treatment programs are ice, heat, ultrasound, electrical stimulation and paraffin treatment.

Paraffin treatment is a form of deep heat therapy that uses a warm, oil-based wax to provide pain relief to the hands, feet and other painful joints and muscles in the body. The liquefied paraffin wax used in this modality is very efficient at absorbing and retaining heat, so when you dip your hand or foot into the paraffin bath, the heat transfers from the wax into the affected area as it solidifies. In turn, this transferred heat will help to increase your blood circulation and relieve pain and stiffness in the process. In addition, this increased flow of blood will soften your skin, and the treatment will also open your pores and trap moisture from underlying layers of skin.

During a treatment session, your therapist will dip your hand or foot into a warm paraffin bath that is kept at a specific temperature. They may repeat this process up to three or four times—or more—and the more layers of paraffin that are used, the longer the heat lasts. This step is followed by covering the affected hand or foot with a towel and allowing the wax to harden, which can take 10 minutes or more. You will typically notice a soothing sensation with less pain and more relaxed muscles soon after dipping into the wax, and most patients report a pleasant and positive experience with paraffin.

Paraffin may be combined with several other treatments for your pain in Bowie

At CAM Physical Therapy and Wellness Services, we often use paraffin wax therapy to treat bursitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, strains, sprains and a variety of other chronic conditions that cause pain and stiffness. This therapy is usually combined with other modalities and treatments in order to produce the best possible outcomes for our patients, and we find that it’s helpful for relaxing joints and relieving pain before beginning other interventions. So if you’re in pain of any sort and are looking for short-term relief and improvements that will last into the long term, a physical therapy treatment program that includes paraffin wax therapy may be right for you. Contact us at 301-464-7390 to schedule an appointment at one of our three clinics in Laurel, Hyattsville or Glenn Dale/Bowie, MD, or click here for more information on paraffin wax therapy.