Today, to deal with pain and get athletes back into action, pro trainers and physios in major sports tend to rely on a simple method. And what can be simpler than ice to apply in the training or dressing room. Apart from a simple, highly effective way to control pain and swelling, icing also reduces injury response, decreases soreness, and even speed up muscle recovery. Fortunately, new high-tech cooling devices make cold therapy easy. For everything from post-workout soreness to post-operative rehab, pro athletes are using these innovations to apply soothing cold to swollen joints, sore muscles, and unexpected on-the-field injuries.
Why it works?
Being strong medication, ice helps stop internal bleeding and the accumulation of fluids in and around the injured area, thus decreasing swelling. The minute you suffer an injury such as a sprain, strain, or contusion, your body reacts in a way that leads to swelling. Initially, blood flow to the site increases, and vessels become more permeable. This is a normal part of the healing process, but it has an adverse side effect: It allows fluid to pool in the surrounding tissue, which can increase pain and exacerbate tissue damage by choking off oxygen to healthy cells. Ice subsides the inflammatory response and minimizes the high oxygen demand of cells in the area.
How to do it?
Swelling and fluid pooling are at their peaks during the first 24-48 hours after injury. That's the time to be serious about
cryotherapy or cold therapy. You need to apply ice along with compression for 20 minutes at least four or five times a day. But don’t ice more than once an hour as you may have frostbite. Many athletes have found that cryotherapy also helps with muscle recovery after especially hard workouts. While ice might speed the process, however, there's no clinical proof for it yet.
Best to use on the go
Following are some of the handy products that you can slip into your gym bag or daypack for quick, easy icing after any activity.
Handy Cold Spray
Soccer enthusiasts know all about the magic cold spray which plays on their favorite players. One minute a player is being carried off the field in agony; the next, after a shot of frost, he's waving at the referee to get back into the game. Since the spray dulls pain and doesn’t reach deep tissue, you need to use real ice. It’s very effective for minor injuries like jammed finger.
Roller Ice
Athletes and trainers unwrap the frozen cups of water to get a focused cold massage. The roller ice represents a much-needed technological upgrade. The body of the light bulb-shaped device is filled with liquid, which when frozen keeps the stainless steel roller icy cold for more than an hour. It’s best for tennis elbow, trigger point massage.
Ice Right
Unlike many cold compression wraps, ice right is meant to apply with real ice, and not just chemical gel packs. Ice right's 6" x 36" stretch bandage has a Velcro closure so you can adjust the compression accordingly. It’s best to apply on knee, shoulder, elbow, ankle, wrist, etc.
Best to use at home
After workout, instead of just collapsing into bed, you need to give your on-field and chronic aches a careful ice-down. Following are some handy methods for you to follow.
Frozen peas: A bag of frozen peas is a great substitute for the ice pellets that professionals use; it conforms to the skin better than cubes, and plastic wrap maintains tremendous compression. Many seasoned trainers admit off the record that they prefer this to their teams’ super expensive skin-monitoring cryotherapy machine.
Aircast cryo/cuff: Using gravity or an optional electric pump, the cryo/cuff circulates ice water from a small picnic-style cooler into a cuff fitted to your knee, elbow, ankle, etc. You can wear it for hours without risking frostbite. Without the motor, drain and refill the cuff every hour or two. It works best on knee, shoulder, foot, wrist, ribs, back, etc.
Game ready
Pro teams buy roomfuls of the machines, which pump air and circulate ice water through fitted sleeves in a cycle of cold and compression. Although this device is an expensive one, works effectively on back, shoulder, groin, knee, ankle, etc.
In a world of sophisticated medical care, a simple cold therapy can still be one of the more effective, proven methods to treat swollen joints, sore muscles, and unexpected on-the-field injuries, either when used alone or in combination with other treatments.
