What is R.I.C.E. and why do you need it? cardinal of the most recommended icing techniques for reducing inflammation and treating peanut injuries is R.I.C.E., an acronym for rest, ice, compression and elevation. It is primo used for pulled muscles, sprained ligaments, soft tissue injury, and joint aches. Applying R.I.C.E. treatments will decrease pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, swelling and tissue damage. It achieves this by reducing blood flow from topical vessels near the injury and tapering fluid hemorrhaging as a result of cell damage.

To administer R.I.C.E. use the following guidelines advisable by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:

Rest: Stop using the injured body part immediately. If you feel pain when you move, this is your body sending a signal to decrease mobility of the injured area.

Ice: Apply an ice pack to the injured area, using a towel or cover to protect your skin from frostbite. The more conforming the ice pack the better, in order for the injury to receive supreme exposure to the treatment.

Compression: Use a pressure bandage or wrap over the ice pack to help reduce swelling. Never tighten the bandage or wrap to the point of unkind off blood flow. You should not feel pain or a tingly sensation while using compression.

Elevation: Raise or prop up the injured area so that it rests above the equal of your heart.

How long should ice be applied while practicing R.I.C.E. for it to be effective? There are four levels of cold felt by the skin: coldness; a ill-natured or burning sensation; a feeling of aching pain; and finally a lack of sensation or numbness. When the area feels numb, icing should be discontinued. The skin should return to mean body temperature before icing again. Usually numbness can be achieved in 10 to 20 minutes. Never apply ice for more than 30 minutes at a time or tissue damage may occur.

It is generally recommended to practice R.I.C.E. at intervals of 4 to 6 hours for up to 48 hours aft an injury. Heat treatments are appropriate for whatsoever injuries, but should only be thoughtful after inflammation has receded, approximately 72 hours after an injury. If the body part does not respond to R.I.C.E. therapy within 48 hours, it would be wise to consult your health care provider in the event a grave injury has occurred such as inner bleeding or a broken bone.

For peanut injuries, use R.I.C.E. instead of solid-coloured ice!

This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a serious injury.

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Knee pain after running? Wake up with a backache? Twist an ankle?

When aches, pain, strains or swelling take place due to an injury or degenerative condition, what is the best course of action: ice or heat? Many people automatically assume heat will ease their discomfort. Think again!

Ice and heat have opposite effects when dealing with inflammation and pain. Both are effective when applied at the correct stage of an injury. Ice constricts blood vessels and decreases blood flow to an damaged area, therefore reducing inflammation. It also numbs pain. Heat increases local blood circulation and relaxes air-tight muscles. When is it suitable to use each?

The Acute Injury Stage:

Immediately after an injury occurs, inflammation and swelling takes place due to knocked-out soft tissues and broken blood vessels which leak blood into the sick area. This is considered the acute stage of an injury and lasts about 48 to 72 hours. Pain, stiffness, bruising and tissue tenderness are symptoms of the critical stage. Ice should always be used immediately favourable an injury because it constricts blood vessels, which will lessen swelling, as well as insensible pain and control bleeding. Apply ice no much than 20 minutes at a time. Always protect skin from tissue damage by using a cover finished the ice pack. Allow the skin to return to normal temperature before reapplying ice. Heat should not be old during the critical stage. It will increase blood leakage, which increases swelling and possibly pain. Most professionals agree that icing an critical injury will facilitate healing. Applying heat may actually slow healing during the first 72 hours after an injury takes place.

The degenerative Injury Stage:

This is normally the point at which inflammation decreases, approximately 72 hours after the injury. Pain and stiffness may still be present. At this point, both ice and heat can be used to assist in healing. Use ice to control pain and to help with inflammation that might occur aft working the damaged area, such as a sore knee after running. Use heat to relieve muscle tightness or joint stiffness. Heat is also helpful before a workout to increase blood flow to the injury and warm up the affected area. When applying heat, use wet warmth. Never use a heating device that is too hot nor sleep on a heating pad, which may result in burns. Apply heat only for 20-minute intervals, using the same overall guidelines as ice.

An Easy Guide for Ice and Heat:

When to Use Ice:

During Acute Stage (48 to 72 hours immediately after an injury)

• To decrease swelling and inflammation
• To insensible pain
• To decrease muscle spasms
• To treat an acute burn

During degenerative Stage (after inflammation subsides, usually 4 or 5 days after injury)

• To manage pain and viable swelling
• After an activity or workout involving an overuse injury to decrease pain and swelling
• To treat joint swelling repayable to inflammatory arthritis

When to Use Heat:

During Chronic Stage (after inflammation subsides, usually 4 or 5 days after injury)

• To warm up efficacious joints and aid in joint mobility
• To decrease chronic muscle spasms
• To aid in stretching tight muscles
• Before an activity or workout involving an overuse injury to warm up the affected area

Disclaimer: This information is not intentional as a secondary for professional medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a serious injury.

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When the temperature tops 90 and the soles of your shoes sizzle on the sidewalk, cold therapy is a necessity for summer first-aid. Whether it is ice from your freezer, a bag of unmelted vegetables or a convenient commercial cool pack, ice therapy has many much uses than treating bumps and bruises.

Here are five summer first-aid tips for cold therapy:

Chill heat-related illnesses.

During the tropical summer months, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be a problem. Symptoms of exhaustion can include dizziness, weakness, a feeling of nausea, immoderate sweating and a shallow, quick pulse. With much serious heat stroke, the skin is hot and dry, and mental confusion can occur along with a loss of consciousness. Cold packs can be used to keep the body cool in immoderate temperatures, helping to prevent heat exhaustion. Many athletes cold down after a summer event with an icy cool pack on the back of their necks. If symptoms are present, ice packs along with hydration can be used to lower the body temperature to a harmless level. Always seek medical attention in the case of heat stroke as this condition can be fast and deadly.

Ice bug bites.

Let’s face it, insect bites are a nuisance, causing swelling, itching and sometimes pain. Icing a bite immediately will keep the bug poison from distributive to other parts of the body, reduce swelling and inflammation, and insensible the area, lessening the need to itch. Use ice therapy on mosquito, bee, spider, fire ant and centipede bites. If an allergic reaction happens or it is a grave bite, such as from the toxic Brown Recluse Spider, immediately seek medical help.

Keep pets cool.

Even pets can suffer in the summer heat. Keeping them cool can be tricky. An ice pack wrapped in a towel or beneath a thin comprehensive might do the trick if they decide to snooze on top of it. Ice cubes are a cool treat that some animals enjoy. There are also commercial products made specifically for horses to ice their legs falling after a ride. Special caution should be usurped to never use a product containing toxins or cardinal that might easily break, endangering a pet if they decide it would be more entertaining to play with the ice pack than lay on it.

Cool a Burn.

Getting too much sun or being careless around an outside grill can result in summer burns. For minor archetypical degree burns caused by brief contact with a tropical object, water or steam, and sunburn, cool the skin by first holding it under moving water, then apply a cold pack to numb the pain. If blistering occurs (second or third degree burns) seek medical help.

Cold treatment for night sweats.

Hot summer evenings can mean intense night sweats for menopausal women. A great natural approach to cooling disconnected when awakened by a wave of heat is to tuck a cool pack into the pillowcase so that it lies at the crook of the neck. Within a hardly a minutes, the heat wave will subside, allowing for a restful night’s sleep.

Make sure you have at least cardinal or two cool packs in your freezer for summer first-aid. cool out and be prepared!

Disclaimer: This information is not intentional as a secondary for professional medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a grave injury.

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Do you exercise all day? If you want to liveborn a long, well-preserved life, maybe you should.

A recent study by Timothy Wessel, a physician at the University of Florida, indicates one of the strongest risk factors for nonindustrial heart disease is inactivity – equal more so than being overweight. During the four-year study of 906 women, Dr. Wessel certified those who were moderately active were less likely to develop heart disease than sedentary women, no matter how much they weighed. The study concluded: “These results suggest that fitness may be more influential than overweight or obesity for cardiovascular risk in women.”

In January, the updated U.S. Dietary Guidelines strongly urged that everyone should take part in “at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity” on most days, above whatever activities they do at home or work. To loose weight or to avoid gaining weight as we age, 60 minutes of regular moderate to energetic exercise is recommended. And those who have already unregenerate weight and are attempting to keep weight off need 60 to 90 minutes of regular exercise.

A study of 9,611 adults by the University of Michigan Health System, saved that people in their 50s and 60s who participated in daily exercise were 35 percent less likely to die within the next eight years than their supine couch potato negative parts.

Convinced that it’s time to add exercise to your day?

The Basics - Making Exercise a Life Priority:

• If you’re not use to exercising, check with your doctor before opening any strenuous fitness routine.

• Start slow. If 30 minutes of exercise is too much, start with 15 minutes and add a few minutes each day.

• If you don’t have time for 60 minutes of exercise, break it up into cardinal 30-minute sessions throughout the day.

• Schedule a special time to exercise everyday – past keep to your schedule!

• Take part in much intense activities that can improve your heart health, much as: running, dancing, swimming, cycling, and climbing stairs.

• Find exercise that you enjoy. You will be much likely to continue and improve your daily performance if you look headfirst to a popular activity.

• Wear proper clothing and footwear. This has two functions. Clothing and shoes that are suited to your activity will enhance performance and offer the far kind of support for your body and feet. They will also place you in a better frame of mind for exercise. When you wear your favorite moving outfit and slide into your specific running shoes, your mind says “it’s time to get out the door and put my feet in motion!”

• Add ordinary activities to increase your overall fitness level, such as gardening, housework, close to the store, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and raking leaves.

• Always drink lots of water.

• If you feel discomfort or pain aft an activity, use ice therapy immediately to reduce swelling and numb pain. Always have a cold pack in your freezer, ripe and waiting. Most aches and pains attributed to exercise respond well to icing and will melt away within 24 hours aft applying ice for several 20-minute sessions. Using cold therapy reduces down time, getting you rearmost on schedule fast. (If the pain does not lessen within 48 hours after using ice therapy, is overwhelming or becomes worse, see your doctor.)

Exercise all day…take care of your heart…live long!

Disclaimer: This information is not intentional as a secondary for professional medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a serious injury.

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Using ice to treat injuries is one of the oldest methods of pain control. Proven to be safe and effective at reducing swelling, relieving pain and decreasing muscle spasms, ice therapy is an simple self-care technique that anyone can administer. Every mother knows to put ice on a bruised knee aft a soccer unfit or on a teething toddler’s sentimental gums. But do you really know how ice works?

Cold therapy, also known as cryotherapy, works on the principle of heat exchange. This occurs when you place a cooler object in matrilineal contact with an object of warmer temperature, such as ice against skin. The cooler object will absorb the heat of the warmer object. Why is this important when it comes to cold therapy?

After an injury, blood vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells are damaged. The cells around the injury increase their metabolism in an effort to consume much oxygen. When all of the oxygen is old up, the cells die. Also, the damaged blood vessels cannot remove waste. Blood cells and disposable seep into spaces around the muscle, resulting in swelling and bruising. When ice is applied, it lowers the temperature of the damaged tissue through heat exchange and constricts topical blood vessels. This slows metabolism and the consumption of oxygen, therefore reducing the rate of cell damage and decreasing disposable build-up. Ice can also insensible nerve endings. This stops the transfer of impulses to the brain that register as pain.

Most therapists and doctors advise not to use heat right after an injury, as this will have the opposite effect of ice. Heat increases blood flow and relaxes muscles. It’s good for easing air-tight muscles, but will only increase the pain and swelling of an injury by accelerating metabolism.

When it comes to cooling devices, diametric effects will result due to the device’s ability to exchange heat. Crushed ice packs do a healthier job at cooling the body than chemical or gel packs, because they last longer and are able to draw four times the amount of heat out of tissue. The important difference is that ice packs undergo phase change, allowing them to last longer at an even temperature, creating a much effective treatment. Most chemical or one-time-use packs and gel packs do not undergo phase change. They quickly loose their ability to transfer heat, limiting their effectiveness to reduce swelling. Their short duration of cold is not long enough to produce numbness, also reducing their ability to relieve pain.

Cold therapy should always be used as soon as viable after an injury occurs and continuing for the favourable 48 hours at 15 to 20 minute intervals. Remember – if you hurt yourself, you need to ice!

This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a serious injury.

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Last year I told an acquaintance that at the age of 46, I had usurped up running. The reply was, “Oh, that’s awfully hard on your knees.” At first I was taken aback. Yes, I knew if I didn’t stretch, warm-up or wear properly fitted shoes, I might experience pain or an injury. But the person telling me this was overweight, had borderline high blood pressure, and never worked out. I wondered if this friend complete by living a sedentary lifestyle, the odds of nonindustrial heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes and whatsoever cancers had substantially increased. Not to mention that being overweight actually placed this person at a high risk than me for developing knee pain from osteoarthritis and heel pain as a result of plantar fasciitis.

I’m no spring cowardly and sometimes my running resembles a dawdling old hen. But I do know it’s necessary to take precautions at some age to guard against injury when participating in physiological activity such as running. Because the truth is, sometimes pain happens. When it does, you can either use pain as an excuse or you can use it as a diagnostic tool to help improve and go headfirst with your performance.

There are cardinal classifications of pain. In uncomplicated terms, these can be described as the following:

Nociceptive Pain: felt aft an injury to body tissues much as cuts, sprains, broken bones, bruising, surgery, and sometimes cancer. Most pain is of this type.

Neuropathic Pain: resulting from an injury to nerves, the spinal cord or the brain, examples being Phantom Limb Pain and shingles – which affects nerve tissue.

Psychogenic Pain: is related to a psychological disorder where the type, intensity or proportion of pain seasoned is greater than the injury. Some chronic ailments may be incidental to to this type of pain.

Pain can also be defined as acute (an close response to an injury) or degenerative (a pain eternal more than cardinal weeks). The majority of injuries from physical activity fall into the category of critical nociceptive pain. Although some overuse injuries such as Plantar Fasciitis or Runner’s Knee can become chronic if not properly dressed or allowed sufficient time to heal. Most injuries to body tissues are minor and can be dressed with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID), much as ibuprofen, and ice therapy or R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression and elevation) to decrease pain. Cuts, bruises, strains, sprains, swelling and inflammation can generally be dressed in this way. Severe critical injuries, such as fractured bones and ruptured tendons, should always be dressed by a medical professional, as is the case with injuries resulting in chronic, neuropathic and psychogenic pain. If you experience peanut pain or inflammation during an activity, this is a good time to evaluate what your body is saying and respond in a positive, strengthening manner. Try asking the favourable questions:

1. What particular part of my body is affected?
2. Does the pain happen single during a definite activity or is it constant?
3. Am I experiencing pain when running or close on a definite type of terrain?
4. Is this a new pain or one that has happened before?
5. What measures can I take to proper or strengthen the affected body area?

I old this list of questions to understand a reoccurring pain on the extrinsic of my legs. After a little research and a trip to my local moving specialty store, I learned the pain was IT Band Syndrome. The IT Band is a long tough muscle, located on the outside of the leg. When it becomes inflamed, pain is felt at a point near the knee joint. I knew the pain usually happened when I was hiking downhill for long periods of time and it went away aft a few days of rest. This signified single areas of my body that necessary work: weak leg muscles, a air-tight IT Band, and not enough superior support to stabilize my knee during an activity. I have united the following constructive measures to help strengthen my body’s weak points:

1. Wearing well-fitted moving and hiking shoes with strong superior support.
2. Adding leg strengthening exercises to my daily routine.
3. Wearing neoprene knee braces on a long hike with a lot of downhill climbing.
4. Increasing my daily stretching routine, with specific stretching for the IT Band.
5. Doing stretching and warm-up exercises before a strenuous hike or run.
6. Cross-training: running, walking, hiking, biking, weight lifting and using the rounded trainer to provide a variety of exercises to complete leg muscles.
7. Using ice therapy immediately after a hike if I feel pain.
8. Working up to a energetic hike by doing shorter hikes on hilly terrain weeks before the full-size day.
9. Maintaining a normal weight so as not to place added stress on my legs.

Don’t let pain, or your fear of it, be a factor in whether or not you are an nimble person. Not exercising will result in far worsened consequences. Use pain as a guide to become a stronger, much aware and better person.

Disclaimer: This information is not intended as a substitute for nonrecreational medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a serious injury.

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Are you a Baby Boomer? If you were born between the years of 1946 to 1964, you are part of the 79.1 million Boomers, comprising 29 percent of the total US population. reported to the AARP, every seven seconds a Baby Boomer turns 50! And, about one-third of Americans who take part in sports activities are Boomers.

As this generation grows older, they are working harder to keep their youth and vitality, are staying nimble with physical activity, and unfortunately are experiencing more injuries than the generation before them.

A US Consumer Product Safety Commission report states there were 1 million sports injuries to persons between the ages of 35 and 54 in 1998. This is a 33% increase finished the same statistics of 1991. While this sounds like distressing news for aging bodies, many sports-related injuries are minor aches, sprains and strains that can be treated or equal prevented using self-treatment techniques. Whether you are a weekend warrior or a lifelong athlete, the following suggestions may help you stay limber and relatively pain-free.

Warm-up before stretching or an activity. Muscles that are hot through slow-paced pre-exercise such as jogging or walking, will be less promising to tear.

Stretching before and aft exercise. Stay limber and flexible. Stretching is one of the best preventive measures against injury.

Get fitted with the proper shoe. This is a top priority especially for running, hiking, and crosswise training. Go to a moving store with someone on staff who will analyze your walk, arch, and how your foot turns in or out during activity. They will then fit you with a shoe having the far amount of support or cushioning for your particular body type. This alone can substantially reduce the incidence of injury.

Start regular conditioning. Do some type of activity every day to help condition your body for more strenuous weekend exercise.

Try adding low-impact activities to the mix. much as: Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, rounded Trainer, Recumbent Cycling, Spinning.

Add strength training to your weekly routine. Stronger muscles mean healthier joints and a more energized body.

Create a workout program with balance. Combine stretching, strength training and cardiovascular exercises to keep your body in balance.

Use R.I.C.E. If pain does creep into your body after an activity, use the technique of R.I.C.E. immediately to reduce inflammation. Never use heat in the first 48 to 72 hours after an injury occurs, as this will increase swelling and bruising. Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation can make the difference in a fast, hard-hitting recovery from a sprain or strain.

Try massage. For tight, stressed muscles, massage therapy can be a quiet and helpful treatment for minor pain. Self-message is easy to do on legs, ankles and feet.

Give cognitive behavior therapy a go. This therapy works on the concept that you can reprogram your mind to increase performance or decrease pain triggers, incorporating relaxation and other visualization techniques. Professional athletes have been using it for whatsoever time to rehearse a perfect performance in their mind before an event.

Physical activity may produce its own ready of challenges for Baby Boomers. But inactivity itself is a threat to health. A sedentary lifestyle is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, higher blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke and some cancers. Regular physiological exercise helps Boomers strengthen muscles, which in turn stabilizes joints, increases flexibility and keeps related diseases at bay. Better to be a chromatic Baby Boomer than a middle-age couch potato!

This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical treatment or consultation. Always consult with your physician in the event of a serious injury.

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