The Effect of Thermal Heat and Cold Applicatıons On Inflammation: A Review Of Current Literature

INFLAMMATION, Tunçsiper B. & Mete B.D., Editör, Gece Kitaplığı Yayınevi, Ankara, ss.319-344, 2022

Healing is a complicated process that consists of three overlapping

phases: 1) inflammation, 2) proliferation and 3) maturation (Li, Chen,

& Kirsner, 2007). When tissue damage occurs due to bacteria, trauma,

chemicals, temperature or any other event, a large number of substances

are released from the damaged tissue. The release of the substance causes

dramatic secondary changes in the undamaged tissue near the injured area.

This whole complex of tissue changes is called inflammation (Hall & Hall,

2021). In other words, inflammation can be defined as a process that damages

cells or tissues at the beginning of the injury. However, inflammation and

healing are intertwined defence mechanisms of the body. If there is no

inflammation, the healing process cannot be commenced. With these repair

mechanisms, the inflammatory factor is destroyed and removed from the

injured area. Then, the damaged tissue is repaired by limiting inflammation

(M.H. Cameron, 2017; Kuralay & Çavdar, 2006). Cytokines are chemical

mediators that mediate the inflammatory tissue response. Cytokines

originating from mononuclear phagocytes are called monokine, cytokines

originating from lymphocytes are called lymphokines, and cytokines

originating from leukocytes are called interleukins. Tumour necrosis factor

(TNF) is one of the main mediators of the acute inflammatory response.

IL-1 acts together with TNF for the response against inflammation, both

are proinflammatory cytokines. IL-10 plays a role in the control of innate

immune reactions and cellular immunity and is an anti-inflammatory

cytokine that inhibits macrophage activation (Hall & Hall, 2021). The

inflammatory phase generally takes several days. However, there is no

consensus about the duration of the inflammation. The durations reported

have ranged between 4 and 6 days (Garrett Jr, 1990; Kellett, 1986). The

disagreement may be associated with individual differences and injury

types (M.H. Cameron, 2017).