Patients should notify their physician if they suffer pain that is persistent or that fails to respond to treatment. There are several types of thermotherapy. Therapies that may be tried by patients at home include:

• Heat creams and ointments. These popular over-the-counter remedies can provide relief from minor muscle pain. However, these topical treatments do not penetrate very deeply into muscle tissue, making them less effective in treating more significant pain.
  
  
• Hot packs. Heated, cloth-covered pouches with a core of silica gel. They provide relief of pain located in a patient’s trunk, spine or limbs. Hot packs also are used to treat muscle spasms, and the inflammations of tendinitis and bursitis. Variations of this type of therapy include hot water bottles, warm and moist compresses and electric heating pads.

Treatments that are more likely to be administered by a professional include:

• Whirlpool baths. This and other forms of thermal hydrotherapy can also be used to elevate tissue temperature, promote vasodilation (dilation of blood vessels) and help stretch collagen tissue. Patients who have whirlpool baths at home may be able to use these treatments at home.
  
  
• Paraffin treatments. Paraffin (waxy white or colorless solid hydrocarbon mixture used to make lubricants) is mixed with mineral oil in a special basin into which the affected limb is immersed. This treatment can provide relief of arthritic symptoms. These units can also be bought for use at home.

• Ultrasound therapy. A method of applying deep heat to tissues using high-frequency sound waves. Transmission gel, oil or water is applied to the skin covering certain areas of the body. Energy derived from a quartz crystal is then the passed from an applicator through the gel, creating deep heating to soft tissue and bone that increases blood flow and tissue metabolism and raises a patient’s pain threshold. At frequencies from 1 megahertz to 3 megahertz, ultrasound penetrates to deeper structures such as joint capsules, tendons and ligaments and can increase their range of motion. Ultrasound also has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is effective in treating muscle spasms associated with back pain and various types of neuritis (inflammation of nerves or a group of nerves).
  
  
• Diathermy. In this treatment, microwaves or shortwaves are selectively absorbed by tissues with high water content. Microwave therapy is especially helpful for patients who have sprains, strains, herniated discs, rotator cuff tears or arthritis. Shortwave therapy is often used to treat low back pain, tenosynovitis (inflammation of a tendon sheath) and osteoarthritis of the knee.

Some forms of electrical therapy also provide a thermal effect.

In addition, a new technique called bronchial thermoplasty is being developed to treat asthma, a major cause of chest pain. This method applies heat to the airway through a bronchoscope to relax smooth muscle of the bronchi. Another thermal treatment for asthma is a heat-exchange mask, which may relieve attacks triggered by breathing cold, dry air.