Stop icing your injuries
We’ve all heard of the RICE acronym Rest Ice Compression Elevation. Well, it just may appear we have been doing it all wrong for may years. I first started to question the RICE theory as a track athlete with countless injures over a very long career. I noticed how much better the injury felt when I applied heat to the area. Don’t get me wrong, I would usually apply ice immediately after the injury occurred, but then proceeded to apply heat the following day. The swelling and the bruising would still be there, and sometimes the bruising would even look worse. But it felt better, and I would start to move better.
Then I came across this interview with Dr Kelly Starrett and Gary Reinl and things really started to make sense..
Then I sore the article in T-Nation
In 1978, The Sports Medicine Book, authored by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, introduced the concept of RICE for treating athletic injuries. It makes sense to ice down an injury as soon as possible to limit swelling and maintain function, right?
In 2014, Dr. Mirkin went on record debunking his own work pertaining to the ice portion of the RICE acronym for acute musculoskeletal injury management. It takes a special man to admit that countless research articles and reviews had disproved his life’s work, but we’re all glad he did.
Not only did cryotherapy not aid in healing, it actually delayed the healing process altogether.
After recently having shoulder surgery I had the opportunity first hand to apply my own theory in a very raw rudimentary way. No real science, no hard evidence, just how did I actually feel. My surgeon recommend I ice my shoulder everyday and even brought an ice pack into my room post surgery.
However, upon arriving home and starting PT (physio treatment) I started to apply heat as many time per day as possible. I would apply heat before having my PT session and in the first week only apply ice post treatment. This was more for pain management than recovery. With no hard evidence, only going by the way I felt, my shoulder started to heal and my range of movement improved every day. My physio even asked why I applied so much heat and not ice. The only time I used the ice was before I slept if I was in pain. I felt the ice numbed the area enough to allow me to get to sleep in those first few weeks.
If you read some of the science around using heat not ice, it will soon become apparent that it just makes sense that movement and heat is the way to go.