Here is a good article on the using hot and cold therapies to help people reduce pain and swelling, and to improve range-of-motion. It has some great footnoted points on dealing with acute and soft-tissue injuries.

Secret Agents on ADVANCE for Physical Therapy & Rehab Medicine

On ice/cold therapies it concludes: "ice in any capacity is helpful for pain relief."

It also discusses various heat modalities, and notes the new TERT therapy. "Basically, the use of TERT involves heating tissue for 20 minutes with a sustained stretch, then exercising for 20 minutes, and finally icing for 20 minutes in the "new" range." See the article for more information.
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