The Power of Ice

You’ve heard it before – when you first injure yourself, the best thing to do is grab some ice. How often have you had to scramble to find an ice pack, struggle to get it cold, and then fight to keep it on your injury? While coaches usually have an ice pack somewhere in their kit, it makes sense to be proactive and keep your own pack in your bag or at least in the trunk of your car.

Dr. Peter Lowenberg has designed a line of ice packs designed to fit the ice pack to your injury AND keep it there! Total Ice Therapy products use an ice bag with a screw top combined with a neoprene wrap to provide firm, consistent pressure to maximize healing. The principle behind this is that real ice decreases pain, swelling, and inflammation best. The unique design of these ice wraps makes for easy compliance of a recovery regime because they are easy to use, they stay in place, and you can always get ice anywhere you go.

The best method to treat any sports injury is ICE. Proven to be safe and effective at relieving pain and decreasing inflammation, ice therapy is an easy self-care technique for conditions of the joints and soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons). It minimizes swelling and bleeding and is always accompanied by rest, compression and elevation. When applied, the athlete goes through the 4 phases of icing: cold, burning, aching, and numbness. These are all perfectly normal.

Cold therapy, also known as cryo-therapy, is most effective in the early or acute stage of inflammation, before range of motion exercises and rehabilitation. It works on the principle of heat exchange whereby the cooler object will absorb the heat from the warmer one, that being your body.

After an injury, surrounding blood vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients and take away waste products are damaged. Everything slows down and now blood and other fluids seep into the space around muscles, causing swelling, bruising, and pain. Applying ice lowers temperature of the damaged area; constricts or makes blood vessels smaller, thus reducing tissue damage; and slows down nerve impulses, which also decreases pain.

Never use heat right after an injury as it will have the opposite effect of ice and increase pain and swelling of an already damaged region.

When it comes to cooling devices, real ice does a better job than chemical or gel packs because it is able to draw 4 times the amount of heat out of tissue, since it lasts longer at an even temperature, giving a more effective treatment. Most chemical or 1-time-use packs quickly lose their ability to transfer heat and thus their effectiveness to reduce swelling.

Cold therapy should always be used as soon as possible after an injury occurs and at 15-20 minute intervals with a minimum of 1 hour off in-between. In order to maintain the results of the treatment it also should be used any time there is a flare-up.

REMEMBER: IF YOU HURT YOURSELF…YOU NEED TO ICE. Be sure to visit Total Ice Therapy to order your own! If you are an athletic trainer or run an athletic facility, these are great to have on hand!