Lindsay Berra has reported for the MLB and ESPN, is the granddaughter of the late MLB great Yogi Berra, and is a friend of iSport360. Learn more about Lindsay here.
Last week Men’s Health dropped Lindsay’s article called “The Cold, Hard Truth About Icing Your Injuries”. I’ve been icing injuries religiously for 40 years and telling my athletes to ice their injuries for the last 10 years. And now we are learning that ice doesn’t help muscles heal…..and might actually do damage. WHAT? REALLY? HOW CAN THIS BE?
Here are the five biggest takeaways from Lindsay’s article that will shock you:
- 1) The “Ice is Nice” generation started in 1965 with the iconic Sports Illustrated picture of Sandy Koufax submerging his elbow in ice, but since then no piece of research has shown definitely that ice is beneficial to the healing process.
- 2) The RICE protocol (established by Harvard professors in 1978) touts Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation….yet new research shows that ice actually delays healing and recovery.
- 3) While ice is the cheapest, most readily available way to alleviate pain, the pain will return once the tissue rewarms.
- 4) The medical community universally accepts that the body’s inflammatory response is necessary for healing, yet ice prevents critical fluids (in the form of white blood cells) from reaching the injured area.
- 5) When your parent or coach told you to “just walk it off” when you were a kid, they might have been onto something…research shows that applying force and light motion to damaged tissue actually accelerates healing of bone and muscle tissue faster than ice and rest.
Read Lindsay’s full story here.
Ian Goldberg is a sports dad, coach and the Founder of iSport360. 100,000 coaches, players and parents depend on iSport360 to foster healthy team communication and culture by setting goals, sharing player feedback, instructional videos and sticker rewards, all in a safe and social team environment. Try iSport360 for free here.