I hear a lot of conflicting information about the application of ice and heat, so I thought I'd run it by the experts here who have personal experience. Some people say apply ice. Others say apply heat. Some say you do one at the time of injury, others say to do it in the days following the injury, etc. I have my own opinions on this subject, but lets just assume I don't know anything, and could someone explain when is it appropriate to use ice, when to use heat on an injury?
ice first off rite when u injure it because it cools the part injured and stops any more heating up from it since you are already more heated up and cools it at the point of injury and so it doesnt injure anymore kinds of like freezes it...heat after because the injured part is tense and needs it to be relaxed for it to heal it will help when it is relaxed to heal. but ice is not necesary can just be let injury rest for a bit....
Key is -RICE- Just remember RICE Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation When you just get the injury (sprain, etc.) - REST, no forcing ICE it out, so that any internal bleeding stops. When it's done, COMPRESS it to keep swelling down ELEVATE it - reduces the blood flow into the affected area, and helps drain out. Heat can be applied a few days after.
Nothing wrong with RICE, tho in Germany it's PECH (funny because "having pech" means "having bad luck", fits to an injury ) There are some instant-cold packs on sale, can't hurt to have one in your bag if there are no cold packs at the place you're playing. They may cost a dollar-something and you just have to press on them really hard so some kind of bag in this pack opens. A chemical reaction starts and the thing gets cold for about 20 minutes (single use only, tho). Just one more thing about the cooling with cold packs. Don't put them on your bare skin (especially not when heated/sweating after playing), put a towel or a unused shirt around them. Then put it on the injury. Otherwise you can get serious damage to your skin (frost bites/frost burn etc...). As to compression: I made the experiance that most sports-center don't have compression bandages on site/in their first-aid kit. So pack one of them, too. Don't use the normal bandages, there are special, elastic ones for making a compression-bandage.
my highschool coach always says to use ice first then heat. you want to get the swell down first, then heat. if you heat the swell, it would only get worse.
if it aint serious the above discussions should cover it (rest usually cures everything - lay off stressing the injuiry), but usually if you donot feel confident enough or feel something bad about your bruise, the best will be to seek a professional help. (i aint hollering guys; i usually ask my friends for loads of advices and usually take it myself) but nothing beats seeking a doctor's advice - after all we dont want to damage ourselves n lose to get to play more badminton as for me i always take a hot compress and rest myself for 2 days. but note "usually it comes about to straining myself..." by not warming up
I say apply ice at time of injury, rest it awhile, then a day or two later, if there's no swelling, apply heat.
Am I right to assume that -ice is to stop swelling and inflamation at the time of injury -heat is to improove circulation later to speed up healing?
i just had a game the other day. and this situation came up. a player came strong at an attack and misfooted and kind of sprained her ankle, the following was what took place to treat her sprained ankle. 1. Removed foot-wears (shoes, socks) 2. Carried/Move the player on a bench so she can sit. 3. Placed ICE on the sprained ankle, to stop the bruise swelling (30 minutes) 4. Next day place hot compress....
That's correct. Ice is to reduce bleeding = smaller swelling. Some long distance runners takes ice baths after running to ensure that they don't bruise too much
I suppose this is about right. I myself find it most effective to apply ice on a sprain to reduce the sweling. Better still, do this immediately or as quickly as possible, without undue delay. As suggested, don't compress the affected part with bare ice. The ice cubes should be covered, say with a cloth (even hand towel) or a plastic piece, so as not to 'burn' your bare skin. I think one should not place the ice on the affected skin for longer than 15 min at a time. Apply for 15 min, rest for say 5 min, then apply again, repeat, until you see improvement or the swell has subsided. I normally don't go for the heat treatment after that.
Hot ice!!! If anyone remembers the move "Rookie of the Year (the baseball one where the kid pitches for the chicago cubs), the dude said hot ice
