hi Jonior PT:
for the first question, hydrothertapy doesent mean cold and hot packs ( it means excercises under water), but physiomodalties means cold and hot packs.
cold and hot packs used for group of age where the patient is mentally oriented ( to help them to determine if the pack is exctreme cold or hot to avoid burn), for the causes, mostly all PT knows that hot used in chronic conditions for excemple in truma or stroke ( to decrese pain, decrase muscle tone, improve circulation to facilitate healing, and to increase scar elasticity).
but for cold pack it is mostly used in acute stage, like inflamation ( rheumatoid arthrities causes or OA ).
using hot or cold pack depend on the pt prefere ( if the pt likes hot so use hot other wise use cold), also check pt sensation befoe applying the modality.
buy