enough to cover injured or painful area
Washcloth for back of neck and forehead
EXPECTED EFFECTS/PURPOSES
Decreases metabolism, respiratory rate, pulse rate, and blood flow to area
Numbs pain receptors
Lowers core temperature
Slows circulation and digestion
Decreases fever and inflammation
Reduces muscle spasms and swelling
Arrests hemorrhaging
Enhances urine production, muscle tone, thyroid activity, elimination, immune system, and red and white corpuscle production
DIRECTIONS
Place a dry towel or plastic sheet under the area to be iced to protect the underlying sheets or bedding. Determine your source of cold, icy water, such as a bucket or container of ice cubes with enough water added to soak thoroughly a towel or washcloth. Dip the cloth into the container, wring it out, then roll it in a backward and forward motion over the skin to acclimate the body area, gradually slowing down the movements and eventually resting the cold cloth completely onto the skin. Wrap the wet cloth securely and snugly around the injured area, covering the area needing attention. An extra dry towel or a sheet of plastic is placed on top of the wet cloth and tucked in. This helps contain the cold temperature and allows the body heat to warm the cloth more intensely, since one’s body—after its initial chilly reaction to the cold—will attempt to warm the area and stabilize the cold temperature.
After a few minutes, when the skin loses the cold sensation, the outermost dry towel and the wet, cold towel are removed. The wet towel is re-dipped in the cold water and placed back onto the skin. Re-cover the area with the dry towel. This procedure may be repeated, with each application lasting no more than twenty minutes at a time. (See Frequency of Application and Length of Time of Application.)
DIRECTIONS FROM THE READINGS
For a forty-eight-year-old man suffering from gastritis and headaches (reading given on July 5, 1936):
. . . the applications . . . to the head and to the feet—of something cool; not cold or ice cold but cool to the head.
261-23
For an adult male with fever, impaired locomotion, and a tendency toward spinal meningitis (reading given on October 30, 1931):
. . . keep those of ice packs or cold packs at the top of head rather than at the base of the spine . . .
5464-1
For an approximately fifty-three-year-old woman with pain in her right knee, as well as varicose veins, hypertension, and tendencies toward neuritis and rheumatism (reading given on August 18, 1931):
. . . Of mornings we would rub the body along the spine thoroughly with cold rubs. The colder the better, from the base of the head to the end of the spine. If the cloths or towels used as rubs are wrung out of ice water, all the better . . .
327-2
[Later, in answer to her question about the cause of her itching ears, the reading stated: “ . . . Increasing the circulation by these cold rubs, we will have this eliminated . . . ” (327-2)]
For a fifty-one-year-old woman suffering from acidity, asthma tendencies, and hypertension (reading given on July 16, 1942):
Following the colonic, there should be a very mild sweat in the dry cabinet—just sufficient to raise the temperature to a sweat . . . (and do keep cold packs on the head, even when the fume bath is given—and watch the pulse with this) . . .
2782-1
For an adult male who had been an epileptic for over twenty-five years (reading given on December 9, 1910):
[He was advised to do short, periodic cold applications to his spine, usually on the upper cervicals.]
. . . The action of the cold along the spine is . . . stimulating and has medicinal properties, combined with electrical force {Violet Ray}.
34-4
[Slight alterations were made from one reading to the next regarding temperature and length of application, all dependent upon his progress.]
TESTIMONIALS/RESULTS
Mr. [261]’s wife wrote at the end of the year, on December 30, 1936, that her husband:
“ . . . still seems very tired most of the time {he had been suffering from gastritis and headaches; see Directions from the Readings} . . . He can’t seem to follow your advice entirely and stop worrying and working so hard.”
261-27, Report #2
He was in the banking business and obtained several readings combining business information with health advice. After his last reading, his thirty-fifth, he wrote:
“ . . . For some time after receiving the reading I felt considerably better. If I don’t now it is only because I don’t continue to do all the things the reading recommended. I am so very busy these days that I find it hard to do all the things that I should . . . ”
261-35, Report #1
The sister of Mr. [34], a longtime epileptic (see Directions from the Readings), wrote that following each reading:
“ . . . a course of treatment was instituted {cold packs along the spine}, since which time he has improved wonderfully, and seems to be on the road to ultimate recovery . . . ”
34-8, Report #1
The results were astounding:
“ . . . He scarcely, if ever, has any more spells and they are hardly perceptible, while he formerly had quite a number each day, falling any place he might happen to be, oftentimes sustaining painful injuries. We have ample reasons to believe that through the mystic power of young Mr. Cayce a permanent cure shall be consummated.”
34-8, Report #1
In July 1960 Dr. Walter Pahnke added this notation to the readings’ supplemental reports:
“ . . . There is {a} good possibility that the diagnosis is epilepsy, but the type of epilepsy cannot be definitely established.” 34-8, Report #3
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In addition to using towels, cloths, or linens dipped in cold water to apply as a pack, another way of using cold compresses is with an ice bag, ice cap, or ice pack. These insulated bags, filled with ice chips or ice cubes, help make the application of very cold temperatures a little easier on the skin. Readily available for
