what are the general rules when it comes to heating or icing an injury?? i injured my knee earlier today. it's not swelling, but it is painful with certain movements. what home remedies do you guys recommend in nursing injuries??

 

Ice only for the first few days. Heat increases blood flow and can cause (more) swelling.

I think you are safe using ice anytime except before physical activity which is when you want to use heat to loosen it up. Then use ice again after the physical activity.

 

I think you use ice to reduce swelling, because it restricts blood flow. Heat increases blood flow, which is good for healing, but bad for swelling. I wouldn't use ice unless it was swelled up. I'd also ask a sports medicine doctor or two, even a nurse. You can take an aspirin if it hurts sitting still, but unless a doctor suggested it, I wouldn't take pain killers to hide the pain of movement. But that's just me.

I had a coach who talked about alternating hot and cold every half hour to get blood flowing in and out of the damaged area, but no word on how much it worked over heat alone.

In my experience, movement without stress, i.e. bending your knee with no weight on it, helps it heal with the full range of movement and very little stiffness. Trying to keep it straight until it doesn't hurt when you move it doesn't seem to help. Remember that your leg muscles pump quite a bit of blood themselves, so keeping it straight reduces blood flow through your leg. And blood is what heals.

 

RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

 

 

Vtec9 gots it right, I am a massage therapist and RICE is the correct treatment for you.

 

thanks guys. i'll give RICE a try. btw, how long and how often should i ice?? also, what's a good mehtod of compression?? self massage??

 

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sprainsstr...t/iceinjury.htm Here you go, some info on icing an injury just remember to wrap your knee with a bandage also.

 

lol when i saw the post rice, i was thinking he had to eat lots of rice to get well. that is until i read on. but it was a funny thought none the less

 

ask BC