Rethinking ice therapy

My father was a public school health/PE teacher for 42 years.  Because of that, since I was little I can remember hearing about RICE.  RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.  If you twist an ankle you use RICE to help get you back on the playing field faster.

 

Or so we thought.

It seems the founder of RICE is now backing off that philosophy along with some other prominent trainers.  According to them, further study indicates that when ice is used, the player is making the injury worse not better.

I found all this in an interesting article on the Philadelphia Inquirer website.  The full article is HERE if you want to take a look.

Obviously, this has serious ramifications for pitchers (me included) who used ice after games to “aid” in their recovery.  Apparently, the new point of view says that the body is capable of healing itself quite well and the stopping of fluids sent to the injured area that causes swelling is not something you want to stop with ice.

It’s an interesting article about a topic I plan to do more reading about.

Tomorrow’s post:  Video – Another option for catchers on throws to third base