Why Ice Delays Recovery

02/05/201511/04/2017 ohtart 1 Comment

In a 2014 article entitled “Why Ice Delays recovery“, Gabe Mirkin, MD wrote as follows:

“When I wrote my best-selling Sportsmedicine Book in 1978, I coined the term RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the treatment of athletic injuries (Little Brown and Co., page 94). Ice has been a standard treatment for injuries and sore muscles because it helps to relieve pain caused by injured tissue. Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping.

In a recent study, athletes were told to exercise so intensely that they developed severe muscle damage that caused extensive muscle soreness. Although cooling delayed swelling, it did not hasten recovery from this muscle damage (The American Journal of Sports Medicine, June 2013). A summary of 22 scientific articles found almost no evidence that ice and compression hastened healing over the use of compression alone, although ice plus exercise may marginally help to heal ankle sprains (The American Journal of Sports Medicine, January, 2004;32(1):251-261).”

He then goes on to explain that

Healing Requires Inflammation (Inflammatory cells rush to injured tissue to start the healing process),
Ice Keeps Healing Cells from Entering Injured Tissue (Applying ice to injured tissue causes blood vessels near the injury to constrict and shut off the blood flow that brings in the healing cells of inflammation)
Anything That Reduces Inflammation Also Delays Healing
Ice Also Reduces Strength, Speed, Endurance and Coordination (The cooling may help to decrease pain, but it interferes with the athlete’s strength, speed, endurance and coordination)

Dr Mirkin’s recommends “Since applying ice to an injury has been shown to reduce pain, it is acceptable to cool an injured part for short periods soon after the injury occurs. You could apply the ice for up to 10 minutes, remove it for 20 minutes, and repeat the 10 minute application once or twice. There is no reason to apply ice more than six hours after you have injured yourself.”

Read more in the full article on Dr. Mirkin’s site.

How to Fix Bad Ankles

23/04/201512/07/2017 ohtart

People who’ve sprained an ankle are likely to sprain it again, writes Gretchen Reynolds for the New York Times, but there may be a “supremely low-tech” fix: balance training. An ankle sprain interferes with the neural receptors in the ligaments that transmit balance information to the brain. Even when the sprain is healed, balance can still remain impaired—increasing the chance of a future injury.

In sports, ankles are the most commonly injured body part — each year approximately eight million people sprain an ankle. Millions of those will then go on to sprain that same ankle, or their other ankle, in the future. “The recurrence rate for ankle sprains is at least 30 percent,” says Patrick McKeon, an assistant professor in the Division of Athletic Training at the University of Kentucky, “and depending on what numbers you use, it may be high as 80 percent.”

“There are neural receptors in ligaments,” says Jay Hertel, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Virginia and an expert on the ankle. When you damage the ligament, “you damage the neuro-receptors as well. Your brain no longer receives reliable signals” from the ankle about how your ankle and foot are positioned in relation to the ground. Your proprioception — your sense of your body’s position in space — is impaired. You’re less stable and more prone to falling over and re-injuring yourself.

A growing body of research suggests that many of those second (and often third and fourth) sprains could be avoided with an easy course of treatment. Stand on one leg. Try not to wobble. Hold for a minute. Repeat.

The treatment, simple as it is, can be quite beneficial

This is the essence of balance training, a supremely low-tech but increasingly well-documented approach to dealing with unstable ankles. A number of studies published since 2008 have shown that the treatment, simple as it is, can be quite beneficial.

Balance training uses instability to force you to use muscles that stabilize the body during movement. Equipment like stability balls, the vibrating platform, wobble boards, etc. all create that instability which causes more muscles to activate than if you were just standing on a stable surface.

Photo of some of our balance-challenging equipment. — A selection of the balance-challenging equipment in our exercise room.

At IC Sports Therapies, we have an array of balance-challenging equipment, a collection which is unique to our practice. We can help you with a program to retrain your brain, and re-establish balance in your life. Phone us today on 9477-3103.

Paracetamol kills pleasure as well as pain, study finds

15/04/201521/05/2021 ohtart

Paracetamol may be an effective pain reliever but it also reduces feelings of pleasure, a new study suggests.

The previously unknown side-effect means that over-the-counter painkillers are leaving users not only pain-free, but also emotionally numb.

In a study carried out by US researchers, volunteers who took paracetamol reported weaker feelings when they saw both pleasant and harrowing photographs.

“This means that using paracetamol might have broader consequences than previously thought,” said lead author Geoffrey Durso, a doctoral student in social psychology at The Ohio State University.

“Rather than just being a pain reliever, paracetamol can be seen as an all-purpose emotion reliever.”

Previous research had shown that the pain-killer works not only on physical pain, but also on psychological pain.

However the new study takes those results one step further by showing that it also reduces how much users actually feel positive emotions.

Dr Baldwin Way, assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State added: “Most people probably aren’t aware of how their emotions may be impacted when they take paracetamol.

“People who took acetaminophen didn’t feel the same highs or lows as did the people who took placebos.”

Researchers asked 82 volunteers to take 1000mg of paracetamol – the equivalent of two normal sized tablets – or a placebo.

After waiting 60 minutes for the drug to take effect, they were asked to rate 40 photographs on whether the image made them feel positive or negative.

The photographs ranged from the extremely unpleasant, such as crying, malnourished children, to neutral images, like a cow in a field, and very pleasant, such as children playing with kittens.

Results showed that participants who took acetaminophen rated all the photographs less extremely than did those who took the placebo.

(More details of the methodology and outcomes at the Ohio State University report.)

Cannabis may help slow cancer growth

14/04/201510/07/2015 ohtart

Israeli scientists have found that cannabis can help slow the growth of some cancerous tumours, according to the preliminary results of new research.

Researchers at the Technion Institute in Haifa decided to consider whether the plant, in all its forms, could have counteractive properties, reports the newspaper Haaretz.

Initial findings show potential for effectiveness in brain and breast cancer.

Research began a year ago under the direction of Professor Dedi Meiri and focuses on the cytoskeleton and cell division processes in both healthy and cancerous cells.

Early readings indicate that cannabis activates a of self-destruct mechanism in cancerous brain cells, although Dr Meiri says it’s early to draw any definitive conclusions.

A good innings

10/04/201510/07/2015 ohtart

We are sad to hear the news of Richie Benaud’s passing, and our commiserations go out to his family, and to all those who enjoyed his company over the years. Richie was a great supporter of Blind Cricket, and the Patron of the Inaugural Blind Cricket Ashes held in Sydney in 2008, where we had the pleasure of meeting him several times.

Gone is the voice of cricket, but never to be forgotten.

RIP Richie Benaud.

Eyes that sparkle

27/03/201510/07/2015 ohtart

One of the nice things about being a therapist, is seeing our clients eyes sparkle again. This happens frequently here. Everyone should have eyes that sparkle.

The first six months

14/03/201510/07/2015 ohtart

We have had another huge week at IC Sports Therapies, and are very grateful for the support our followers afford us. There have been many challenges and changes during the first six months of operation, and we hope they are changes for the better. If you haven’t been to see us, call and make an appointment so we can show you around.
We now have the most comprehensive range of first aid supplies at the best retail prices around.

Ktape patches

06/03/201524/03/2015 ohtart

We now have Ktape patches in stock. Check them out in the clinic or in our store.

With the growth of the business

25/02/201510/07/2015 ohtart

With the growth of the business, and amazing loyalty of our clients, we require the services of at least one new therapist.
If you know anyone who is a Sports Therapist, Physio or Body worker, who you think would embrace the philosophy of our clinic, could you please let us know?

Been everywhere and tried everything?

19/02/201520/10/2015 ohtart

Repeatedly over recent weeks we have been hearing stories of people who have “been everywhere and tried everything” with no demonstrable results or relief from their pain. If you know someone in that category, please let them know to check out our therapists. It is our pleasure to ease their pain.