How Long Should U Ice An Injury

We’ve long thought that ice ‘helps’ inflammation, mainly because we see it as ‘bad’. Inflammation is not only normal but vital for healing to occur. We are better off letting the body do what it’s trying to do rather than interfere with superficial ice application.

The use of ice, or very cold temperatures, in a therapeutic capacity is known as cryotherapy. It is effective because it causes vasoconstriction, or narrowing of the blood vessels. The muscles contract, inflammation is lowered, and pain signals are reduced.

How To Ice Your Knee The Proper Way

Here are common mistakes people make when icing an injury. The protocol has since been updated to P.O.L.I.C.E. for ankle sprains, tendonitis, back pain, bruises, and contusions of all sorts. Elizabeth Quinn is an exercise physiologist, sports medicine writer, and fitness consultant for corporate wellness and rehabilitation clinics. Some athletes report that applying pressure to the injury is better than icing it.

Always keep a thin fabric between the source and skin. Both hot and cold therapies have their pros as well as cons. Contrast therapy is considered a safe, reliable option and pretty affordable. The best part is that you can perform this low-risk and straightforward treatment at home for instant and medication-free relief. It is found equally effective for most of the pains. Alternating ice and heat therapy is the best and easiest way to treat swellings, pain, and injuries.

A typical protocol is to apply ice for 10 minutes at a time once per hour for the first 72 hours. From then on, ice should be used three times a day—morning, midday, and a half-hour before bed. Ice should be applied to an injury for 10 minutes at a time. Since the lymphatic system relies on muscle activation to remove waste, light exercise and pain-free movement can jumpstart the healing process.

Most doctors, trainers, and physical therapists refer to the R.I.C.E. method of therapy. However, ice baths are typically therapeutic in a preventative sense. Some even question if they effectively reduce inflammation. Whenever you feel a twinge in your knee, you can help yourself out by slipping some ice on your knee.

To highlight why ice may no longer have a role in acute injury management, let’s look at what actually happens to the body during the healing process. If using ice packs or wraps, add a layer of thin cloth between the pack and your skin to prevent burning. Fill a plastic bag halfway with crushed ice, and wrap a thin cloth around your injured ankle.

How To Treat A Sprain, Strain, And Stiffness When To Use Ice Or Heat?

As with ice, there are situations where subduing pain and inflammation can help. But they should never be used in place of other measures (we’ll get to these in a minute) without being aware of the added consequences to recovery time. So as you can hopefully appreciate, the body has a very particular response to an acute injury. One that happens each and every time damage occurs. Thanks to some really good thinkers the post-injury management landscape is changing. So much so, it may be time to reconsider using ice to treat your sprain or strain.

Now, when it comes to days, you should keep the treatment until the pain goes away. Pain and swelling are one of the best signals that your body uses to let you know that things aren’t as good as they could be. So, until the area of the injury doesn’t go back to normal, keep icing it. If you ice an injury for longer than that, you risk causing damage to the tissue and worsening the injury.

It’s also easy to make your own hot and cold wraps or packs. Do not exceed 20 minutes as there is a risk of skin and nerve damage beyond 20 minutes. A slush bath might work best for severe sprains or extreme swelling. Fill a large bucket with water and crushed ice, and place your ankle in the bucket until it is numb. Howard J. Luks, MD is an orthopedic surgeon & sports medicine specialist.

Contrast Therapy Timing

In general, it’s best to use a contrast therapy ratio of one minute of cold for every three to four minutes of heat. Repeat the alternation between hot and cold approximately three times. Clearly, both ice and heat bring something to the table in terms of pain relief and healing. Sometimes, choosing one over the other simply may not provide enough relief, which is where contrast therapy comes in.

If the injury is longer term or more chronic in nature, heat might work better instead. To keep the ice from doing damage to the skin, place a towel around it. Michael Lau, PT, DPT, CSCS, is a licensed physical therapist, strength and conditioning coach, and co-founder of The Prehab Guys. Imagine that you’re outdoors finally doing your exercises. It’s a sunny day and today you finally feel like exercising.

A sprained ankle will require both ice and heat at different points in the recovery. Initially, treatment will focus on rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Icing an injury typically takes place immediately after the injury occurs. Using a cold compress or ice pack on a strained muscle can decrease inflammation and numb pain in the area. Icing is effective at reducing pain and swelling because the cold constricts blood vessels and decreases circulation to the area. Ice has traditionally been used to treat soft tissue injuries where there is swelling.

As an athlete who went through quite a few injuries I can tell a definite difference between icing and not icing. I am not sure how you smart scientists come out with your results but there must be some serious flaw in your research. One of the biggest mistakes people make is going back to their regular life once they feel good again. The problem is that your ankle is still really weak and susceptible to injury. A recent study by the NCAA showed that students who did not rehab their injury were 70% more at risk for the same injury to happen again.

Whether the result of a slip around the house or a misstep on the playing field, many of us have experienced a painful sprain or two. A sprain is a common sports injury that generally occurs in the wrists, knees, and ankles. Throughout the human body, tissues known as ligaments support joints by connecting bones to other bones.