Ask the Expert - Ice and injuries
In this issue’s Physiotherapy Corner local experts at Boathouse Physiotherapy focus on the topic of applying ice to injuries.
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Ice to meet you..
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Should you ice an injury? Apply heat? Ice is a surprisingly hot topic and one of the most common “oh yes, one more thing…” type of questions that I get asked on a daily basis. If you’d like to know whether or not ice means it can give pain the cold shoulder please read on.
1978 was a momentous year. I was born and Dr Gabe Mirkin coined the acronym RICE; this stood for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.
RICE became the staple management of acute sports injuries. The rationale was that by limiting inflammation, the first stage of the body’s healing process, we could speed up the healing process. However; 42 years later medical science has moved on to a different longer acronym which, ironically, sounds like it has come out of the 1970s.
PEACE & LOVE. That’s right; this might sound like a call to break out the bell bottoms but it is in fact based on the latest research into tissue healing, man…ahem. PEACE & LOVE stands for:
P Protect
E Elevate
A Avoid anti-inflammatory drugs
C Compress
E Educate …&…
L Load
O Optimism
V Vascularisation
E Exercise.
PEACE refers to the initial management of an acute injury. LOVE is more about the longer term management, using weight training / load bearing strategies to encourage healing.
For example, if you sprain an ankle you would perhaps use an ankle brace and a walking stick initially to give the healing joint enough load to encourage healing and movement, but not so much that you would create swelling.
So, should you use ice? The answer is that, based on our understanding of inflammation, you probably shouldn’t; although there are, as always, exceptions to the rule such as the presence of prolonged swelling.
Swelling, as I often tell people, is the enemy. Swelling places a great deal of pressure on tissues, restricts blood flow, reduces movement and makes muscles weaker. Swelling must be controlled. Ice is a great way of achieving this control during the early stages of managing an injury.
So, in conclusion, if you sprain an ankle or tweak your knee focus on PEACE & LOVE, keep RICE in cupboard and avoid using ice because it’s just not cool anymore.
If you have any questions or niggling injuries that just won’t go away please contact me, Anthony Bath, at Boathouse Physiotherapy via 0118 976 7189.
The Boathouse Surgery, Whitchurch Road
Pangbourne, RG8 7DP T. 01189767189
1978 was a momentous year. I was born and Dr Gabe Mirkin coined the acronym RICE; this stood for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.
RICE became the staple management of acute sports injuries. The rationale was that by limiting inflammation, the first stage of the body’s healing process, we could speed up the healing process. However; 42 years later medical science has moved on to a different longer acronym which, ironically, sounds like it has come out of the 1970s.
PEACE & LOVE. That’s right; this might sound like a call to break out the bell bottoms but it is in fact based on the latest research into tissue healing, man…ahem. PEACE & LOVE stands for:
P Protect
E Elevate
A Avoid anti-inflammatory drugs
C Compress
E Educate …&…
L Load
O Optimism
V Vascularisation
E Exercise.
PEACE refers to the initial management of an acute injury. LOVE is more about the longer term management, using weight training / load bearing strategies to encourage healing.
For example, if you sprain an ankle you would perhaps use an ankle brace and a walking stick initially to give the healing joint enough load to encourage healing and movement, but not so much that you would create swelling.
So, should you use ice? The answer is that, based on our understanding of inflammation, you probably shouldn’t; although there are, as always, exceptions to the rule such as the presence of prolonged swelling.
Swelling, as I often tell people, is the enemy. Swelling places a great deal of pressure on tissues, restricts blood flow, reduces movement and makes muscles weaker. Swelling must be controlled. Ice is a great way of achieving this control during the early stages of managing an injury.
So, in conclusion, if you sprain an ankle or tweak your knee focus on PEACE & LOVE, keep RICE in cupboard and avoid using ice because it’s just not cool anymore.
If you have any questions or niggling injuries that just won’t go away please contact me, Anthony Bath, at Boathouse Physiotherapy via 0118 976 7189.
The Boathouse Surgery, Whitchurch Road
Pangbourne, RG8 7DP T. 01189767189