Ice is a method of treating a disease by applying an ice pack to the affected area or a certain part of the body directly or with ice water mixed with medicine. Ice, for sports injuries is very important and one of the essential treatment modalities.
And in the clinical work found that the general patients do not know what is the scientific method of ice, even in the area involved in the injury, palpable skin temperature is significantly higher than the normal level, but also in the case of doing hot compresses and some treatments with thermal effects, hard to heat the tissue, which will only aggravate the inflammation, aggravate the pain, but prolong the progress of treatment, counterproductive, causing unnecessary trouble, so here I will introduce the scientific method of ice method to everyone.
The ice is a medicine, as early as the Tang Dynasty Chen Zangqi’s “Materia Medica” recorded, ice “taste sweet big cold non-toxic, the main to go to the hot and bothered”. In the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen clearly included in the “Compendium of Materia Medica” the external treatment method of “typhoid fever and Yang toxicity, fever and coma, with a piece of ice in the munchies. In modern times, this method is not only commonly used in the first aid of patients with high fever and coma, but also for the treatment of some pain and bleeding diseases. By the cold nature of ice, it can be applied directly to the affected area or specific parts of the body to cool down and dissipate heat, stop bleeding and pain, and eliminate swelling.
The main principle of ice compress]
1.Ice stimulation causes local capillary constriction, inhibits blood circulation, reduces post-injury bleeding, reduces microcirculation and surrounding tissue exudation and swelling;
2, local cooling inhibit the local level of the body’s own metabolism, reduce the release of oxygen radicals, reduce and slow down the release of histamine, reduce the accumulation of local inflammatory substances after the injury, reduce the inflammatory response;
3.Ice cold stimulation inhibits nerve conduction, which has the effect of increasing pain threshold and reducing tissue sensitivity to pain, which simply means reducing the degree of pain;
4, reduce the role of vascular endothelial cells and the formation of thrombus, etc.
In summary, it can be seen that there is no substitute for the role of ice. After trauma and functional exercises with traumatic possibilities, it must be carried out in time. Timely icing can minimize the degree of inflammatory reaction, reduce pain, prevent additional damage of functional training, and also create good tissue conditions for the next step of treatment.
[Ways of icing]
1, disposable chemical ice bag: need to go out to buy, disposable non-reusable, convenient, but the temperature duration is short, and the cost of multiple use is high, only for emergency use.
2.Silicone ice bag: need to buy special, higher price, the temperature can be as low as minus a dozen degrees after removal from the freezer, directly put on the skin will certainly cause frostbite, the ice pack across the object because of its low heat capacity, quickly restore room temperature, so the temperature is difficult to reach deeper tissue, seemingly convenient to use in fact, the effect is limited, only for superficial injuries or emergency use.
3, ice and water mixture: easy to make low cost, home refrigerator can be made, usually ice and water in a 1:1 ratio mixed in a plastic bag, pad a thin towel or direct ice on the skin surface, because the temperature is stable at 0 degrees Celsius, will not cause damage to the tissue, can be used with confidence, so especially recommended.
4.Cold therapy machine: need expensive professional treatment instruments, the cost is too high, not convenient for home use.
[Time of ice compress]
Note that in the case of using ice water mixture, ice is usually in 15-20 minutes, not long and not short, this time just the temperature conduction to the tissue location, too long ice can lead to reflexive vasodilation, but lost part of the meaning of ice, and, after all, ice is to inhibit circulation inhibit tissue metabolism, too long is not conducive to tissue self-treatment of inflammation, so ice must be implemented within a reasonable framework.
In general, under normal ice conditions, as the skin temperature decreases, there will be a cold sensation in the first three minutes or so, burning and pain in two to seven minutes or so, local paralysis, numbness and pain, stimulation response is blocked in five to twelve minutes or so, and deep tissue vascular relaxation without increasing metabolism in twelve to fifteen minutes or so, at this time, the ice should be stopped In order to avoid the formation of cold injury of the skin temperature is too low. Of course, such ice physiological response, with the size of the ice, the amount of water, as well as the scope of the ice and the previous state of movement of the iced person and so on and different. Usually, when the ice is applied with ice water without ice, the physiological response of the third stage or more does not occur easily; when the ice is applied directly with ice, the physiological response of the fourth stage may occur within five minutes (e.g., the ice massage time with constant movement of the ice, which usually does not exceed 10 minutes). That is to say, in the first 3-7 minutes of ice, there may be some local discomfort, after 5-7 minutes of these discomfort will disappear.
Temperature of ice pack
0 degrees is best (ice cubes in cool water, ice water mixture that is 0 degrees), do not take the ice out of the refrigerator directly, because the temperature is too low, easy to frostbite. The skin surface is separated by a thin layer of towel is good, the dressing is too thick, the temperature is not easy to transfer.
【Frequency of ice】
Acute injuries within 24 hours, should try to 2-3 hours once.
Chronic diseases 2-3 times a day, or as prescribed by the doctor.
The precautions of icing
1, you can put a thin towel on the ice area to avoid excessive cold stimulation of the patient, but also to prevent frostbite.
2.After icing, use a dry towel to dry the skin of the iced area.
3, old and weak, cold evidence, pregnant women, menstruation, etc. should not ice.
4, trauma broken, inflammation late, serious heart disease patients should not ice.
5.Icing should be stopped immediately if the patient has adverse reaction.
6.When there is a wound on the affected skin, the use of ice and water mixture needs to prevent the water from leaking out and contaminating the wound.
7.Please follow medical advice if necessary.