A Few Words Of Caution Before We Begin

First Things First: Understand Your Injury

For the sake of keeping things simple (and this article at a meaningful length), I’m going to focus on the ankles as they are by far the most common joint that gets beaten up in our sport. If you’re having knee, shoulder, elbow or wrist issues, just know that a majority of the advice can be applied to these joints as well. 

So, let’s say you did a tumbling pass and landed funny. As you limp to the side of the floor, you notice that every time you flex your ankle, the pain is sharp but when you try to point it, it’s not too bad. What should you do?

Well besides icing it initially to dull the pain, you need to get it checked professionally ASAP.

I don’t care how bad you think it is, you need to be sure. A wrong diagnosis can mean the wrong treatment, which can make your injury worse.

If an X-ray scan reveals that everything is ok (no broken bones) and a professional (or an MRI) deems that no ligaments are torn, then chances are the advice in this article can help you get back to your training quickly.

However, if the injury is severe (such as if you need a cast and/or crutches) then professional physiotherapy is something you should strongly consider.

Now before we dig deeper, I want to quickly talk about a treatment option that many coaches and athletes default to when an injury occurs. But what they don’t know, is that this treatment option is actually slowing down the recovery process.

And full disclosure: I myself made this mistake for many years… until I did my homework.

Think you might know what it is? Head over to the next page to find out…

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So Here’s What Not To Do — R.I.C.E

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 30 years (or never been injured), you know that Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate was the standard procedure recommended by pretty much everyone, everywhere.

It just became “the thing” you did when an injury occurred.

But it’s also what is holding us back from healing quickly!

Yup, you heard that right. Now I understand that this may come as a shock to some of you (especially coaches) but the combination of complete rest (taking lots of time off) and ice is an almost guaranteed way of sitting on the sidelines for far longer than necessary.

In fact, Gabe Mirkin himself (the MD who invented the term back in 1978) is now reversing his approach based on new evidence. This is the mark of a true professional — someone who’s comfortable saying “I was wrong.” 

Again, because this might be hard to believe, allow me to provide you with a direct quote from Gabe:

“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.“

Does this mean ice is completely useless?

Actually… no. Ice is still a very good pain-management tool. When you apply ice to an injured tissue, it causes blood vessels to constrict for a few hours, and the nerve endings to become numb. This combination can really help you stay comfortable on the day the injury happened.

However, it’s also the root cause of slow recovery.

Think about it — when blood vessels are constricted, what happens to blood flow?

Well, what happens to the water pressure when you step on a garden hose? It decreases.

And as we all know, blood flow is the only way our body can bring in healing cells called macrophages. What these cells do, is release a hormone called IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) right into the damaged tissue, causing them to heal and recover.

But when you apply ice, the macrophages cannot be brought in at the speed at which your body wants.

Luckily, the body has a mechanism that not only allows the healing cells to be brought in, but it can do so at a faster pace by getting the blood vessels to expand. In laymans terms, your body can literally double the size of the hose!

What is this magical mechanism?

Well, it’s something that too many of us try and suppress. Why? Because it has (wrongfully) received a bad reputation over the past few decades.

I mean, we even have pills which try and shut this mechanism down completely.

Sound mysterious? Actually, there’s a good chance that you already know what it’s called…

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It’s Called Inflammation

Ever had an ankle sprain so bad that it started to swell? That’s inflammation at work, trying to bring in macrophages as fast as possible. So understand that swelling is not only normal, but a good sign.

But what do most professionals recommend that you do? Take anti-inflammatory drugs, apply ice and rest it. You might as well just give up training completely!

If you want recovery to occur as quickly as possible, inflammation must become a part of the healing process. It needs to be there just as how high body temperatures need to exist when you get a cold or flu so that your body can kill off the virus.

Side Note: Look, it’s not my place to recommend that you go against the advice of certified professional when they tell you to ice and take anti-inflammatory medication. I’m just presenting the info, and will leave you to make that choice. However, personally speaking, if a doctor told me to “keep icing it and take an Advil,” I’d thank them for their outdated advice, and find someone who’s up to date on their recovery research because at the end of the day, all I care about is getting back into the gym. Just sayin’

So What Does Work?

Well, below are four protocols that are absolutely proven to promote faster healing and recovery. They might not have the same “ring” to them as R.I.C.E did, but they definitely work better.

Healing Protocol #1: Heat

There is a reason athletes do something called a “warm up”. Heat has a tendency to expand things, and your muscles and blood vessels are no exception. So while the body will default to inflammation when injured, you can really help along the process by applying heat.

This will increase blood flow and actually start giving you better range of motion on your injured joint — especially if you need to perform daily activities such as walking up a flight of stairs and so on.

When should you use it? As soon as possible. Remember, icing is fine during the time of injury to reduce pain, but after a few hours you need to switch to heat and let the body do its thing.

“…it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping.” (Tweet This)

Healing Protocol #2: Movement

Your body has two circulatory systems, the first one revolves around your blood (known as the cardiovascular system), but the second one is called the lymphatic system. If you’ve never heard of it, here’s an official definition:

“The lymphatic system consists of thin tubes and lymph nodes that run throughout the body. These tubes are called lymph vessels or lymphatic vessels. The lymph system is an important part of our immune system. It plays a role in fighting bacteria and other infections and destroying old or abnormal cells, such as cancer cells.” – cancerresearchuk.org

So how does the lymphatic system relate to a sprained ankle?

Well when it comes to injury, we already know inflammation is needed. And while swelling means healing, it does need to go away at some point. Like anything in life, having too much of something can end up hurting us. So once the inflammation particles have done their job, all the deoxygenated blood and waste needs to be removed. The problem is, not all the particles are big enough to be carried out by your cardiovascular system.

Their only way out? Through your lymphatic system.

And the only way your lymphatic system gets stimulated is through muscular contraction.

Or in other words, movement.

If no muscular contraction occurs, the swelling stays. And if swelling stays for too long, all that waste remains in your joints, and now you have a recipe for pain, loss of strength and other problems that didn’t exist in the first place.

If you paid close attention to that last paragraph, I just revealed the number one reason why complete rest and immobilization is one of the worst things you can do (unless you have a broken bone, of course). Another benefit of movement is that it increases blood flow to the working muscle, greases the joints for better mobilization and helps keep the temperature higher than average.

Going back to our sprained ankle example, the amount of movement really depends on how badly the joint was hurt. You want to do enough so that the muscles around the joint are stimulated and the lymphatic system can carry out the waste, but not so much that you make the injury worse.

Understanding this fine balance is where the expertise of a good physiotherapist comes into play. Go see one, and pay them what they’re worth. You’ll heal faster because of it, trust me on that.

Truth be told, these first two protocols alone will help you improve your recovery rate by a huge margin over simply resting on the couch and eating Cheetos.

Speaking of Cheetos, the next protocol is the one which gets the least amount of love. I think it’s probably because most don’t even know how vital of a role it can play in helping injuries heal faster.

I would bet that 8 out of 10 injured athletes and coaches aren’t taking advantage of it.

Think you know what it might be? Let’s find out…

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