ICE

• For acute injury (i.e ankle sprain, acute trauma, ligament or joint injury)

– During acute injury, the body responds to inflammation and swelling. Ice helps reduce the blood flow to the affected area and reduce the swelling which causing pain. It also helps reduce nerve activity which firing pain signals to our brain.

– If inflammation is the healing process, why do we slow it down?

The answer is the inflammatory response usually involves a much broader area while the actual injured area is isolated to one or two components. The broader inflammation response can cause more harm to uninjured tissues in the area.

Best to apply (< 36 hours ) after injury! Apply for 15 to 20 minutes every 2-3 hours

Heat

• For muscle pain

– increase blood circulation and increase the drainage of the lactic acid away from the affected area. It also allowed more oxygen and nutrients to the area to speed up the healing process.

– warm the affected muscle  30 minutes with a hot water bottle or heat pad and apply as soon as cool after or home after the training session the same day

– a hot bath with Epsom salt or muscle relax bath salt