Stop and chill .... or maybe not.
Ice for injuries? “Of course” I hear you say. Icing injuries has been around for decades. Everyone does it and we all know the RICE protocol…. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
Well thankfully common sense and science says it may not be a good idea. I wrote about this in July of 2018 in the blog Is RICE the best method for healing. In that short blog there is a video of Dr Gary Reinl discussing why this is not a valid protocol.
Now in an updated video nearly 8 years on he discusses it again. with Dr Kelly Starrett.
Gary has 20 years coaching experience with professional teams in many sports such as baseball, football, MMA etc and works with over 100 teams. Yes, 100 teams!
The RICE protocol originally came from Dr Gabe Mirkin’s book in 1978 “The Sports Medicine Book”. Today even Dr Mirkin himself has admitted to making this protocol up with no science to back it, has retracted his opinion and written the foreword in Gary Reinl’s book about not icing to promote healing. I love this because people don’t often admit when they’re wrong.
Here’s a recent article from Men’s Health titled The cold, hard truth about icing your injuries. This article also mentions how ice can delay healing, increase swelling, and possibly cause additional damage to injured tissues.
So what should we do then?
There are a few methods out there with very similar foundations, mainly keeping the injured area moving. Here’s a few methods-
Dr Reinl’s protocol is ARITA- Active Recovery Is The Answer.
MOVE- Movement, Options, Vary, Ease. Link here.
METH- (probably not the best name) Movement, Elevation, Traction, Heat. Link here.
When looking to heal injured tissue we want to increase blood flow (so move) as well as decrease swelling as this is waste build up (so move as this activates your lymphatic system which is the only way to remove the waste). This DOESN’T mean keep running on an sprained ankle people. It’s not all or nothing folks. Look for options that make the muscles work but will not overload the damaged tissues. This could be as simple as moving the toes, ankle circles, using a static bike etc.
So maybe next time just save the ice for your cocktail.
Thanks for reading!
Rich
