Ice and Rest for Injuries? Not Anymore.
By
January 22, 2015
Many of you remember the days (not so long ago, as a matter of fact), when long-slow distance training was the peak of the fitness pyramid. As CrossFitters, most of you now realize that results come with intensity, not over-training. Long slow distance is an inefficient pathway to fitness and is often wrought with overuse injury and burnout. You tried a different way, experienced better results, and are now incorporate a completely different training style into your training regimen.
How about the nutrition paradigm? Remember when low fat and high carb was the way to go. Pretty much everyone except the FDA has made a complete reversal on that one. We recognize the value that carbs play in fueling our athletic endeavors, but we also now recognize the importance of dietary fat and what carbohydrates can do to our waistline if over-consumed.
Well there is another well-accepted premise of health and fitness that is being questioned and refuted in many circles. The new word in health, fitness, and many medical circles is that rest and ice will not help injury. In fact, there is no clinical evidence anywhere that suggests that icing an injury will help but may even delay the healing process. So what does increase healing? Physical activity.
Don't take it from me. Take it from Dr. Gabe Mirkin, the guy that coined the term "RICE" (rest, ice, compression, elevation) for injury treatment in The Sportsmedicine Book, the original sports medicined textbook. He has now renounced his support of ice and rest saying that they will delay recovery. Here are some articles (they are hyperlinks) to do your own research.
What do you guys think? Post to comments if you will be tossing your ice packs or if you think this is just another fad that will go the way of the "ab-blaster".
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