The Importance of Icing Following an Injury 

As an athlete growing up, I was constantly putting my myself in vulnerable situations. Whether it was a sprained ankle or a pulled muscle, it seemed as though I was constantly dealing with some sort of nagging injury or discomfort.
The common advice I would receive was the classic acronym RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation). If the injury were really severe, I would follow those instructions, for a while. For the less intense injuries, I would simply keep playing, hoping it would feel better soon. Not suprisingly, that rarely happened. It wasn't uncommon for me to deal with same problem for an entire season, all the while thinking it would "just go away."

It wasn't until later on in life, during my schooling to become a Doctor of Chiropractic, that I learned why the injury never really went away on its own. The common denominator in most injuries is the accompanyment of soft tissue inflammation. Swelling, redness or warmth in a traumatized area of the body are classic outward indications of inflammation. Although inflammation can be a very helpful process in some cases, more often that not it is an enemy of sorts to the healing process that must take place at the site of injury. The goal is to eliminate the inflammation so the body can speed up its recovery.

This is where ice comes in to play. Ice is a natural vasoconstrictor, meaning it constricts the blood vessels, thus not allowing them to have a dramatic increase in the amount of blood that is "leaking out" of the damaged tissue into the surrounding tissues. I'm sure many of you have seen, or experienced for yourselves, a badly twisted ankle that turns purple and green in the foot, ankle and perhaps even up the leg. These are processes of inflammation taking place in the body. With ice, we can slow these processes and limit the amount of inflammation that takes place. The less inflammation, the shorter the healing time. The shorter the healing time, the quicker you're back to doing what you want to do, at the level you want to do it.

Remeber, for the first 72 hours following an injury, ice only; no heat. Ice for a maximum of 20 minutes before taking at least a 20 minute break. Do this even for the mildest of pains or discomfort and you'll find yourself feeling much better sooner.

Dr. Jeff Priebe
Chiropractic Physician