What is PRICE technology? PRICE is a combination of the initials of four words in English (Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). The Chinese meaning is: “Protect, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation”. The PRICE technique is used for acute muscle, ligament, and other soft tissue strains, sprains, or other bruising injuries. Proper use of the PRICE technique can reduce vascular bleeding, help relieve swelling and pain, aid in early healing, and shorten recovery time. How should we implement the PRICE technique? 1, Protection (Protection) “Protection” is actually very good to understand, is to protect the injured part, so that it is not re-injured. For joint sprains, need to pay attention to protect it from further sprains, to avoid similar movements with the injured action. For soft tissue muscle tendon injury, it is protected from excessive strain or strain state, avoid causing pain and other uncomfortable actions. Reduce the pain of the injured part, to avoid suffering again or continue the cause of injury, is the most important purpose of protection. If the conditions allow, you can use some splints or temporary fixation, so that the injured part is better protected. 2, rest (Rest) The so-called “rest”, not only to reduce the activity, simple physical rest, mainly to limit the activity of the injured part and get rest, so more contains the concept of “local brake”. After any muscle, bone and joint injury, rest and braking is the first step. You need to stop exercising immediately to allow time for the injury to heal. For example, when you sprain your ankle, you should not normally walk on the injured foot with weight. The injured area should be fully rested and should not be used or stressed with weight. It is usually necessary to rest the injured area for 1-2 days. If a more serious injury occurs, you will need to go to the hospital. In this case, crutches, splints or plaster supports may be needed to protect the injured area for better rest. Minor injuries caused by repetitive motion can accumulate into larger injuries, so it is important to know when to stop exercising. Usually with enough rest and treatment, minor injuries can heal without further deterioration. When a minor injury occurs during exercise, people often feel that they will be fine if they grit their teeth and push through. In fact, with this approach, sometimes the pain or discomfort seems to ease a bit. There are many reasons for this. During exercise, the nerve fibers respond to mechanical activity signals, similar to how the transmission of impulses by nociceptive nerve fibers can be reduced by touching and touching. The practice of gritting one’s teeth to get through may reduce pain signaling and relieve some of the pain. This phenomenon is mentioned in the doctrine of pain gating. Other factors include, for example, the mental state during exercise, which can also play a role in reducing pain. However, pain is a signal of injury, through these methods to reduce the pain does not reduce the local damage to the damaged tissue itself, if continued movement will cause more serious injury. 3, ice (Ice) ice, more systematically known as cryotherapy (Cryotherapy), is one of the most widely used methods for the treatment of acute sports injuries. It is economical, easy to use and convenient, can help control the development of swelling and inflammation of the injured area. After an injury, ice should be applied as early as possible to aid in an earlier recovery. The main principles of icing are: 1) constrict the blood vessels in the injured area to reduce bleeding, thus reducing swelling; 2) relieve pain; 3) relieve muscle spasm; 4) reduce the risk of cellular tissue damage by decreasing the metabolic rate. When performing ice therapy, do not directly touch the ice to the skin. Use a towel or clothing to wrap the ice pack before applying ice. If you cannot find ice, you can use a bag of frozen chestnut rice or frozen peas. So sometimes even a glass of cold water will do. Each ice pack time is generally held within 15-20 minutes, then remove the ice pack and rest for a few minutes to allow the injury to warm up and return to room temperature. Depending on the injury, this can be repeated several times. In the 1-2 days after the damage, you should use ice as much as possible. 4, compression (Compression) compression techniques are generally used within 24-48 hours after the injury and can help limit the progress of swelling in the injured area; can also provide additional support protection of the injured area. Compression of the injured area increases the pressure in the tissue and narrows the blood vessels, thereby slowing the progression of inflammation and preventing further swelling within the joint. If this swelling is allowed to develop, it can severely impair limb function. There are several ways to implement compression techniques. One of the most effective is the use of a compression bandage to wrap the injured area. A compression bandage is usually a type of bandage with elasticity, which is commonly referred to as an elastic bandage. The advantage of compression bandages is that they are easy to use and the elastic support provides enough local pressure to stop excessive bleeding and reduce blood leakage into the surrounding tissue of the injury. Conventional non-elastic bandages, training tape or even a piece of clothing cloth can also be used, but care needs to be taken not to wrap too tightly as this may cause local tissue necrosis. When you find the end of the limb, such as fingers, toes, etc., the skin color pale, cold, may be too tight bandage caused by the bandage, need to be removed immediately, should be taken seriously. When wrapping from the distal end of the injured part, layer by layer covering the proximal end of the wrap. Pressure can be combined with the use of ice bags, that is, the bandage wrapped in ice bags pressure wrapped around the injured area. Compression at the same time for ice, two birds with one stone. 5, elevation (Elevation) elevation, usually means elevating the affected limb. It is a way to use gravity to help blood and tissue fluid return to reduce swelling at the injured site and relieve pain. After an injury, the injured area is placed as high above the level of the heart as possible to use gravity to help return blood flow back to the heart. Elevation of the affected limb is recommended around the clock for 48 hours after the injury. For example, for lower extremity injuries, maintain a stepwise elevation of the ankle over the knee and the knee over the hip as much as possible. For upper extremity injuries, a brace or sling can be used. If it is not possible to keep the injured area above the heart level, at least keep it at the same level. Do not go below that level as much as possible to avoid aggravation.