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Ice On Injuries: Research Disagrees

Ice On Injuries: Research Disagrees

Published By HealthcareLink , 4 years ago

A commonly agreed method of healing seen in the world of sports physiotherapy is RICE - Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate, but evidence from multiple studies dating from the 1980's til now reveal this methodology may be doing more harm than good.

In fact, there is no substantial evidence that using RICE in the process of recovery is actually beneficial or speeds up the process. What may actually be happening is the low temperature of the ice pack may actually inhibit the natural healing process the body undergoes. Compression and Elevation have similarly never been proven as a method that actually helps. Even the man who first developed the RICE concept in 1978, Dr Gabe Mirkin, revealed in a 2015 study that the method did not actually work.

Dr. Joshua Zadro, a sports physio and researcher at the University of Sydney tried to explain this to friend and family, but they all refuse to believe him because it makes sense from a logic standpoint. When you burn your hand, you reach for cold water or ice to cool it down. In the same fashion it is thought that cooling down a hot and swollen part of the body with ice will have the same benefit. Whilst it is true that the ice will help reduce pain due to it's numbing effect, in reality the reduced temperature which causes vein constriction, in combination with an elevated and compressed leg for example, would result in blood being pushed away from the affected area, minimising the delivery of the blood and its content's needed for effective recovery.

Even the Australian Physiotherapy Association agrees. Dr. Christian Barton an APA spokesman said that there is little to no any evidence that putting ice on something is going to do anything significant for healing, and in fact inflammation being the body's natural reaction to injury may be the actual key to healing.


Is Inflammation the Answer?

Inflammation is commonly seen as a negative occurrence that leads to more pain and more damage. However, given that inflammation is a natural mechanism that the body employs to fight off, it may be the answer to muscle damage.

The current theory is that the immune cells need to be present at the wound to deliver new cells and new blood supply to the correct locations, like a movie director directing his crew. Slowing down the immune cells and their ability to reach their required destination may prove to be detrimental to this process. However, this theory is also not backed by any substantial evidence to say it is the "answer".


Then What Is?

Physical activity.

A 2016 study revealed that the only outcome that positively stimulated the healing process and reduced the risk of repeated injury was simply movement. All a patient has to do is exercise the affected area as soon as they are able, and slowly move that area more and more everyday until they are fully recovered. It's as simple as that! Physiotherapy for the win!

Source: SMH // Image: CC-BY-00

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