Icing Injuries Are A Huge Hoax
I sprained my ankle playing BBall the other day, derailing my returning to dunk training.
I was limping around the office with a CVS brace because I didn't know what to do. I haven't independently dealt with a sports injury since middle school. It was at that moment, like an angel sent from heaven, a broscientist of a higher degree came down and hit me with some major knowledge. Will Compton hit me with some serious facts that blew my whole understanding of healing. Will Compton told me that they don’t over ice in the NFL. I was like wtf? Turns out the inflammation process, which includes swelling, blood flow, pain, and the whole 9 yards, is beneficial in healing faster. When Caveman turned his ankle, the swelling prevented excess movement so there wouldn't be a greater injury, pain prevented caveman from pushing it too hard, and mass blood flow was getting the healing done. Turns out that though ice and cold prevent swelling, something we always thought was analogous to the source of the pain and the antithesis of healing, was a side-effect of the blood flow that was bringing nutrients and healing to the soft tissue. What that means is that constant icing was preventing blood flow and, in turn, the healing of the injury. We all grew up with the concept of RICE.
Now what rice meant in any first aid or athletic injury handbook was
Now the creator, Dr. Mirkin, of RICE has now come out with a new and improved, much less easy-to-remember acronym.
When I wrote my best-selling Sportsmedicine Book in 1978, I coined the term RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the treatment of athletic injuries (Little Brown and Co., page 94). Ice has been a standard treatment for injuries and sore muscles because it helps to relieve pain caused by injured tissue. Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping.
In a recent study, athletes were told to exercise so intensely that they developed severe muscle damage that caused extensive muscle soreness. Although cooling delayed swelling, it did not hasten recovery from this muscle damage (The American Journal of Sports Medicine, June 2013). A summary of 22 scientific articles found almost no evidence that ice and compression hastened healing over the use of compression alone, although ice plus exercise may marginally help to heal ankle sprains (The American Journal of Sports Medicine, January, 2004;32(1):251-261).
It shot down the ice.
Ice Keeps Healing Cells from Entering Injured Tissue
Applying ice to injured tissue causes blood vessels near the injury to constrict and shut off the blood flow that brings in the healing cells of inflammation (Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc, published online Feb 23, 2014). The blood vessels do not open again for many hours after the ice was applied. This decreased blood flow can cause the tissue to die from decreased blood flow and can even cause permanent nerve damage.
And even anti-inflammatorys
Anything That Reduces Inflammation Also Delays Healing
Anything that reduces your immune response will also delay muscle healing. Thus, healing is delayed by:
• cortisone-type drugs,
• almost all pain-relieving medicines, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen (Pharmaceuticals, 2010;3(5)),
• immune suppressants that are often used to treat arthritis, cancer or psoriasis,
• applying cold packs or ice, and
• anything else that blocks the immune response to injury.
So what are you supposed to do instead?
Dr. Mirkin has new data.
My Recommendations
If you are injured, stop exercising immediately. If the pain is severe, if you are unable to move or if you are confused or lose even momentary consciousness, you should be checked to see if you require emergency medical attention. Open wounds should be cleaned and checked. If possible, elevate the injured part to use gravity to help minimize swelling. A person experienced in treating sports injuries should determine that no bones are broken and that movement will not increase damage. If the injury is limited to muscles or other soft tissue, a doctor, trainer or coach may apply a compression bandage. Since applying ice to an injury has been shown to reduce pain, it is acceptable to cool an injured part for short periods soon after the injury occurs. You could apply the ice for up to 10 minutes, remove it for 20 minutes, and repeat the 10 minute application once or twice. There is no reason to apply ice more than six hours after you have injured yourself.If the injury is severe, follow your doctor’s advice on rehabilitation. With minor injuries, you can usually begin rehabilitation the next day. You can move and use the injured part as long as the movement does not increase the pain and discomfort. Get back to your sport as soon as you can do so without pain.
There is also now serious Data that ice baths hurt muscle gains.
You learn something knew everyday, its one of my favorite things to share with you guys.