Whether you are athletic and work out a lot, are just an occasional weekend warrior, or you just do a lot of walking, at some point, you probably have suffered from an injury. Common exercise-related injuries include sprained joints, strained or torn a muscles, bruising or some other trauma injury. All of these should be treated with R.I.C.E. We are not talking about the brown, white or wild type. RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

RICE can relieve pain, limit swelling and protect injured tissue – all of which help speed the healing process. Healing occurs as damaged tissue is replaced by collagen, known as scar tissue. When scar tissue completes its repair on the injured area, one can go back to a full workout. Let’s take a closer look at how to implement the RICE procedure.

Rest:  Rest is an integral part of the injury rehabilitation process for two reasons. First, rest protects the injured muscle, tendon, ligament or other soft tissue from further injury. Second, a rested limb has the energy necessary to heal itself most effectively. It should be noted that while resting the injured portion of your body is important, it doesn’t mean you need to stop working out all together. There are some exercises you can do during that healing process to help keep yourself in shape.

Ice:  You can use ice packs, bags of ice, or bags of frozen vegetables wrapped in a thin towel. Make sure the towel isn’t too thick so the treatment will be the more effective. Cold brings short-term pain relief and reduces swelling by constricting the blood vessels and in turn, blood-flow into the area. NEVER LEAVE ICE ON AN INJURY FOR MORE THAN 20 MINUTES. Long-term exposure to cold can cause damage to your skin. The best rule is to ice 15 minutes, leave 15-20 minutes without ice and then repeat the treatment. After the ice is taken off the injury, vasodilatation occurs – meaning, the blood vessels expand and bring in much-needed nutrients to the area.

Compression:  Compressions is another way to curb swelling. This is important, as swelling impedes the healing process. Compression also reduces pain in some cases. The best way to compress an injury is to wrap it with an ace bandage. I advise wrapping an ice pack under the bandage when the injury first occurs. If you feel throbbing, rewrap the area with slightly less tension on the ace bandage.

Elevation: Elevating the injury is an additional way to bring down swelling. Keep the elevation at the same level as your heart.

After 48 hours, you should feel relief from your injury, swelling should be going down and your pain should be less.  In other words, you should be starting your healing process.  If not, see your physician or even go to the emergency room if you deem it necessary.  Once the swelling has subsided, try to gently stretch the area and slowly work the range of motion in the joint.  Also, moist heat may be helpful once the injury is out of the acute phase and swelling and bleeding (internal or external) has subsided. This will increase blood supply to the area and promote long-term healing. Only when your injury has healed can you begin to do strengthening exercises.

Treating an injury properly will speed your healing time and get you back to your full workout routine and “add hours to your day, days to your year and years to your life.”

Alan Freishtat is an A.C.E. CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER and a LIFESTYLE FITNESS COACH with over 12 years of professional experience. He is the co-director of the Jerusalem-based weight loss and stress reduction center Lose It! along with Linda Holtz M.Sc. and is available for private consultations, assessments and personalized workout programs. Alan also lectures and gives seminars and workshops. He can be reached at 02-651-8502 or 050-555-7175, or by email at [email protected] 

Also on the web at www.loseit.co.il