Ice Therapy: Is It Useful?

For as long as I can remember icing has been a pivotal part of injury rehabilitation. As a young kid and with it coming from medical professionals it became the golden rule. Injured? Ice it, Swollen? Ice it, Aches after practice? Ice it. This is such a standard that it kind of goes unquestioned and the standard care, but what does research show us now? Is it still useful? When should we apply it if necessary?

What does icing do for me?

At the bare minimum, we must know and understand why we do ice injuries in the first place. At the basic level, it is simply a mode to control inflammation in trauma, decrease muscle spasms, reduce edema, and reduce pain as well. Also, we must know and understand that inflammation is a pivotal and necessary step in the healing process when an injury is sustained. Icing mindlessly has been shown to impede this process which can potentially drag on an injury longer than usual.

So Should we Ice?

With the background covering, now comes the question, Should I apply ice on an injury, and if so how, and when? Icing an injury is still a great way to help yourself at home when an injury occurs. However, the best research shows icing is only good for acute injuries. An acute injury is typically an injury that has taken place within the last three days. A perfect time to ice an injury is if you roll your ankle and see immediate swelling and bruising. Icing back and neck aches shortly after they have started can have beneficial effects as well. The best way to ice would be 20- 30 minutes for the first 12 hrs., alternating on and off.

However, it is important to know that after the acute stage of an injury (first 72hrs after initial onset) icing an injury is not proven to be very beneficial. Research shows that besides the “numbing” feeling you will get from icing an injury, there is no benefit to doing so after the first 72 hrs.

How can we use this for injuries?

This is pivotal as icing is so routinely done for injuries without any guidance. Icing is and should be applied when the situation asks for it. Mindlessly icing and injury for days and weeks at a time is not doing anything for your injury. It may make you feel better but research does show that it may also be impeding your normal healing process. If you just suffered an injury go ahead and ice it for a few days, if you have chronic injury like back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain or anything else icing is simply not doing anything beneficial and you should focus on other ways to treat it.