Daily Maestroism
DM #695
Wednesday, April 18th, 2018
DM #695: This is actually not new news, but it’s totally ok if it’s new to you. It’s definitely not #FakeNews. If it’s old news to you, feel free to keep scrolling. If it is new news to you, pull up a chair and let’s chat.
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Ice can be great for pain. Often times there may also be swelling present when someone has pain (injury, post-op, etc). So, to treat the pain they use ice. That person WRAPS or PRESSES ice around painful, swollen area. Ice helps with their pain. Compression/pressing helps with the swelling. Person feels better, moves more, swelling goes down even more. Person thinks ice fixed their swelling. 🤔
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Best ways to help decrease swelling? Compression, decompression, and movement. Compression helps push fluid out. Decompression (as afforded by the recoiling effect of something like @rocktape) helps lift fascial layers and open up lymphatic vessels. Movement creates a pump that helps get that stagnant stuff out of the area.
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Yes, ice causes vasoconstriction which can theoretically limit the influx of inflammatory markers/mediators to the area. But the rebound effect is a very real thing and eventually those vessels are gonna open back up, often times bringing even more stuff with them. Also, inflammation ain’t the devil. It’s what helps us heal. It’s when this process gets out of hand and goes unchecked that we have some issues.
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So, what am I saying? Go ahead and use ice in moderation for your pain, but realize what’s going on in regards to that concurrent swelling. If you want to get rid of it, ice ain’t the best way. And, as per my last post, if you want research that supports this, head on over to google scholar 👊🏽.
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PS – Using ice baths for things like the Wim Hof method and cold exposure training is a totally different concept than this.
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Daily Maestroisms dropping whenever the craziness of life allows 🤷🏽♂️. Get yours.
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