To Ice or not to Ice? Chinese Medicine and Sports Injuries
Most people are well c
onditioned to ice their injuries; this is what they have been told for… well, ever! But the Chinese have a slightly different opinion on the matter. There is an old Chinese saying that claims ‘ ice is for dead people’. This is because ice preserves tissues in a static state, which is counterproductive for tissue repair. It halts normal blood circulation and causes contraction of the muscles. This is helpful only to prevent swelling; in other words, to decrease the circulation in the area. It also has a numbing effect which is nice when there is pain.
However, once the threat of swelling is gone, heat is much more beneficial. Heat is vasodilating; this means it increases blood flow, which aids in a more speedy recovery because fresh blood sweeps through the area aiding in the clean up from tissue damage. Unless there are visible signs of inflammation (heat, redness, and swelling), heat is the way to go.
Many patients often complain of pain in their joints that is worse with the cold weather. This may be due to too much ice used therapeutically or overexposure to cold temperature, for example, by running in shorts and a T shirt in the middle of winter. To conteract this complaint or to prevent it from happening altogether, use ice only within 24 hours of an injury and only in short spurts of 10 minutes every hour. After that, apply heat.
Chinese medicine has a nice systematic approach to dealing with traumatic injury. First, emergency acupuncture points can be used to move stagnant energy and blood, kill pain, and increase circulation. Often, if there is swelling, the area can be lanced and blood and extra fluid can be drawn out. Self massage with liniments are a great self care for injured clients and energetically cooling poultices and plasters can help decrease inflammation without freezing the tissues. Finally, internal herbs can help the body heal itself even more quickly and completely.
Heat can be used in many forms: heating pads, rice packs, hot showers, saunas and hot tubs. In my clinic, I use moxabustion, warming liniments, and infrared heat lamps to warm the joints and muscles of my patients. Each of these methods is very effective as well as calming and restorative.
So next time you think about putting ice on your knee, put your hamburger on it instead. You will be much the wiser for it!
It’s so hard to get people to think differently about icing injuries, but you provide a great explanation. One alternative to ice for sports injuries is a plaster named “San Huang San”. It is a very powerful way to cool and reduce inflammation without harming the blood flow that is so important to healing. Here’s the formula, but it can also be ordered pre-mixed online, which is rather convenient.
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Thanks for the information Jon-erik.
As for iceing injury, I like the explanation in the main article. Thanks
Very good insight into icing injuries. Thanks for sharing this information. I’m passing it on to my patients.
Couldn’t agree more on icing. It decreases brain function and leads to sprains and worse as we age!
Nice post about icing.