Ice or Heat?

I had a brief conversation with Dan for the mile I ran the other day while my knee was yet again saying STOP. He told me he had a hot tub i was welcome to use and just sit in to help with the healing. I told him I would not be doing that, because preferrable, I should treat an inflammations with Ice. Keep in mind, Dan has a Pharmacist degree and license, and his wife is a doctor, so for me to tell him this was a little weird.

Not that he was wrong to suggest that, but this is where I got my reason for Ice and not heat on inflammations.

LINK

Here's are Excerpts:

"Heat tends to further injure friable blood vessel walls thereby promoting leaking of fluid and increasing swelling. Ice, on the other hand, also vasodilates and does not injure the vessel wall, and, in fact, helps its integrity. Ice is truly a great vasodilator. Although initially vasoconstricting in the first few minutes, it then promotes vasodilation, as evidenced by the red area on the skin after icing."

"both ice and heat work: after a 20 minute treatment, both result in an area that looks red due to increased blood flow. Which should you use then? I prefer ice because it temporarily deactivates receptors in the vessel walls, thereby keeping the vessels open for an additional 45 minutes following a twenty minute treatment. When heat is applied, as soon as the heat comes off, the vessel area begins to cool the receptors and the vessel walls are reactivated to normal blood flow. Therefore, ice gives you a longer treatment for a 20 minute application."