May make injured athelets to pay PRICE.
Pain killers other than NSAIDs to ease pain
Range of motion
Icing to be avoided
Circulation to be maintained
Exercise
Some of the most common athletic injuries involve straining or tearing of ligaments. You might wonder why you still have pain in an injured area or why that area remains weak, even after a healing period of weeks, months or years.
The answer lies in the fact that both ligaments and tendons have very poor circulation and it is this lack of blood supply which deprives them of the nutrients they need to heal properly. So Natural healing of tendons and ligaments is slow and the most often than not, tendons and ligaments may not heal back to their original strength and endurance. At the same time,the nerve supply to tendons and ligaments is superior to other parts of the body. That’s why you may feel a significant amount of pain and trigger muscle spasms.
The mainstay of a treatment protocol for these injuries includes RICE Therapy and Anti-inflammatory pain killer tablets. But Are these so-called gold standard treatment care promote a full recovery?
RICE therapy has been still recommended and followed for nearly more than 40 years, but has now raised concerns over its efficacy. For many years doctors have questioned the legitimacy of the RICE protocol. Protocol once thought of as appropriate, is now under criticism from a surprising source, the doctor who himself created the RICE treatment guidelines, Dr. Gabe Mirkin, MD. In a recent article on his own website, Dr. Mirkin admits that both ice and rest (key components of RICE) may delay healing, instead of helping. This insight comes nearly 40 years after Dr. Mirkin authored The Sportsmedicine Book (1978), where he coined the acronym RICE for the 4 elements which became the standard of care in treating soft tissue injuries.-
Cold pack or icing is done to reduce acute pain, swelling(edema) and inflammation of injured tissues. Cooling temporarily numbs the area which decreases the pain sensations,but hinders healing. Icing causes vasoconstriction which leads to decreased blood flow/nutrients to the injured tissue. Studies have shown that Ice delays healing and Reduces Strength, Speed, Endurance and Coordination in athletes.
Ice applications can negatively affect athletic performance.
Immobilization, also known as stress deprivation, is detrimental to the soft tissue and ligaments. Immobilization decreases the strength of the fibro-osseous junction where the ligament attaches to the bone.
Compression and excess Elevation may help in reducing the swelling but can lead to decreased perfusion of nutrients to the injured tissue.
Also, frequently most physicians prescribe NSAIDs for sports injury to decrease pain which in turn inhibits the healing cascade by inhibiting inflammation.
The new way of thinking backed with science shows that Inflammation is not the enemy. Inflammation (pain, swelling) is a body’s reaction towards the healing of injured tissue. Inflammation is necessary because it plays an important role in the healing and recovery of muscle cells and soft tissue regeneration. Tissue that is damaged through trauma or vigorous exercise requires inflammation. When muscles and other tissues are damaged, your body sends inflammatory cells to the damaged tissue to promote healing. Remember nature doesn’t use RICE for healing.
While the traditional RICE therapy hinders/delays detrimental to healing, we propose a new PRICE Protocol that is appropriate( in terms of utilizing body’s natural healing) and strongly supported by many clinical studies.
PRICE includes-
Painkillers other than NSAIDs to ease pain
Range of motion to increase joint nutrition.
Icing to be avoided
Circulation to be maintained
Exercise
Tables comparing RICE Vs PRICE
The new PRICE Protocol provides an increased healing system response, increased blood flow (nutrients) to the injured area, encourage collagen formation, ensures complete healing and speedy recovery and better functional outcome.
RICE treatment is very effective at eliminating edema, so it could, theoretically, prevent a compartment syndrome situation from occurring. Compartment syndrome only occurs in muscles (and only in those with a lot of damage) and never occurs in ligaments. What happened in the 1970s, unfortunately for the athletes of the world, is that sports medicine doctors and trainers started treating every injury as if it was going to turn into compartment syndrome.
One more important thing to remember that do not ICE(except for acute muscle injury).
The RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) strategy works well for acute muscle injury. Do not use this strategy for connective tissue injury(Ligaments, Tendons). RICE therapy is totally inappropriate for connective tissue injury. If someone wants to ice the injured tissue, do it frequently (5-6 times) but not more than 10 minutes each time.
But I know this is countercultural, and even sounds radical, but try it and see if it doesn’t work better for you. I can put many examples of patients in my practice who have proven this point for themselves. Traditional RICE therapy may make the injured athletes pay the Price. But PRICE therapy is Fruitful to speedy and complete recovery. So when it’s RICE(therapy), think twice.
We, at Prolotherapy Clinic, well understand that for Professional athletes, even minor injuries can cause downtime from practice, missed games and even end careers. For many athletes, whenever possible, surgery is not an option as it will require significant downtime and rest. This is why so many Prolotherapy clinics offer regenerative stem cell injections to their patients so that an athlete can heal an injury without surgery and long resting periods. Whether you are a current athlete, or you are suffering from the injuries you obtained in your youth, stem cell and PRP injections are great treatment options for healing. Prolotherapy also knows as regenerative injection therapy(RIT). It is a well-recognized nonsurgical orthopedic procedure that stimulates the body’s natural healing processes by initiating a local inflammation cascade, which triggers the release of growth factors and collagen deposition. Prolotherapy promotes genuine, natural body healing and uses no artificial substances, no medications and nothing that can cause adverse future side effects. The great advantage of Prolotherapy is that it is safe.
Visit our website, to learn more about Prolotherapy and its different types which utilizes PRP(growth factors derived from own blood) or BMAC OR MFAT (stem cells harvested from bone marrow Or fat). This regenerative medicine accelerates your natural healing process by activating your own stem cells and platelets in an injury site. Did you know your own blood and bone marrow contain bioactive proteins that initiate and control the healing process? These injections are a great way to start healing sports injuries whether they are new or old.
Dr. Vikram Rajguru is India’s first Interventional Regenerative Orthopedic and OrthoBiologic Surgeon. He is one of a small bunch of specialists in the nation that is both an Orthopedic Surgeon and a master in the field of Interventional Regenerative Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. This mix of degrees gives Dr. Vikram Rajguru an expansive subject matter and ability that benefits his patients generally. Through his aptitude, he has assisted numerous patients with returning to a dynamic way of life by giving agony resolution and recapturing lost portability through noncareful just as careful treatment. He accepts to consistently give guidance that is equivalent to that which he would suggest for ourselves or our own family.
