The term “sports injury” does not only refer to injuries that occur during sports. In our daily life, we will encounter a lot, such as ankle sprains, muscle strain, heel pain, etc. in fact, can be called sports injuries. Sports injuries can be broadly understood as injuries to joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and other sports systems. After experiencing an acute sports injury, proper acute treatment will help greatly in the healing process. The PRICE technique is taught here to properly manage acute sports injuries. What is PRICE technique? PRICE is a combination of the first letters of four words in English (Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). The Chinese meaning is: “Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation”. And we can also add two M, that is, physical therapy (M, modalities) and medication (M, medications), so now there are also people will be this technology is called PRICEMM. PRICE technology is used for acute muscle, ligament and other soft tissue strains, sprains, or other bruising injuries. It is the gold standard in the treatment of acute sports injuries. Within the first 24-48 hours of an acute sports injury, damage to soft tissues such as muscles and ligaments can cause problems such as muscle tears, rupture of blood vessels, swelling and pain at the site of the injury. Increased bleeding from the ruptured blood vessels further triggers secondary hypoxic injury, leading to cellular tissue necrosis. Therefore, early treatment is aimed at effectively controlling excessive bleeding. Proper use of the PRICE technique reduces bleeding from the blood vessel, helps to relieve swelling and pain, contributes to early healing and shortens recovery time. How should the PRICE technique be implemented? 1, protection (Protection) “protection” is actually very good to understand, is to protect the injured area, so that it will not be re-injured. For joint sprains, we need to pay attention to protect it from further sprains, and avoid similar movements with the injured movement. For soft tissue muscle and tendon injuries, to protect them from excessive strain or strain state, to avoid causing pain and other discomfort movements. Reduce the pain of the injured area, to avoid re-suffering or continue the cause of the injury, is the most important purpose of protection. If 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” is not only to reduce the activities, pure body rest, mainly to limit the activities of the injured part and get rest, so more included in the concept of “local braking”. Rest and braking is the first step after any muscle, bone or joint injury. You need to stop exercising immediately to allow time for the injury to heal. For example, when you sprain your ankle, you usually should not walk with weight on the injured foot. The injured area should be rested and not reused or put under pressure. 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 casts 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 pain and discomfort from a minor injury occurs during exercise, people usually think that if they grit their teeth and hang in there, they’ll be fine. In truth, with this approach, sometimes the pain or discomfort seems to ease a bit. There are a number of reasons for this. During movement, nerve fibers respond to signals of mechanical activity in a similar way that touching reduces the impulses transmitted by pain nerve fibers. The practice of gritting one’s teeth and pushing through may reduce pain signaling and relieve some of the pain. This phenomenon is referred to as the pain gate doctrine. Other factors include, for example, the mental state of mind 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 tissue itself, if the movement will cause more serious injury. 3, ice (Ice) Ice, more systematically known as cryotherapy (Cryotherapy), is one of the most widely used for the treatment of acute sports injuries. It is economical, easy to use and convenient, and can help control the development of swelling and inflammation in the injured area. Ice should be applied as soon as possible after an injury to help speed recovery. The principles of icing are: 1) to reduce swelling by constricting blood vessels at the site of injury and reducing bleeding; 2) to relieve pain; 3) to relieve muscle spasms; and 4) to reduce the risk of cellular tissue damage by lowering the metabolic rate. When performing ice treatment, do not touch the ice directly to the skin. Use a towel or clothing to wrap the ice pack before applying ice. If you can’t find ice, you can use a bag of frozen chestnuts or frozen peas. So sometimes even a glass of cold water will do. The duration of each ice application is usually limited to 15-20 minutes, and then the ice pack is removed and rested for a few minutes to allow the injury to warm up and return to room temperature. This can be repeated several times depending on the injury. Ice should be used as much as possible within 1-2 days after the injury. 4.Compression(Compression) Compression techniques are generally used within 24-48 hours of injury and can help limit the progression of swelling in the injured area; they can also provide additional support to protect the injured area. Compression of the injured area raises the pressure in the tissues and narrows the blood vessels, which slows down the inflammation and prevents further swelling in the joint. If this swelling is allowed to develop, it can seriously affect the function of the limb. There are several ways to implement compression techniques. One of the most effective is the use of a compression bandage to cover the injured area. A compression bandage is usually an elastic type of bandage, commonly referred to as an elastic bandage. The advantages of compression bandages are that they are easy to apply, and the elastic support provides enough localized pressure to stop excessive bleeding and reduce the amount of blood leaking into the tissues surrounding the injury. Regular non-elastic bandages, training tapes or even a piece of clothing cloth can also be used, but care needs to be taken not to wrap the bandage too tightly as this may cause localized tissue necrosis. When you find that the end of the limb, such as fingers, toes, etc. appeared skin color pale, cold, may be bandaged too tightly caused by the bandage, need to be removed immediately, must be taken seriously. When bandaging, start from the distal end of the injured area and cover it layer by layer towards the proximal end. Pressurization can be combined with the use of ice packs, i.e., the bandage wrapped in ice packs to pressurize the bandage on the injured area. Pressurization at the same time for ice, two birds with one stone. 5.Elevation(Elevation) Elevation, usually means to elevate the affected limb. It is a way to use gravity to help blood and tissue fluids return to reduce the swelling of the injured area and relieve pain. After an injury, the injured area is placed as high as possible above the level of the heart to utilize 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, in the case of a lower extremity injury, keep the ankle over the knee and the knee over the hip in a stepwise manner whenever possible. For upper extremity injuries, a pillow or sling can be used. If it is not possible to keep the injured area above the level of the heart, at least keep it in line with that level. As far as possible, do not go below that level to avoid aggravating the swelling. 6. Physical therapy and medication Physical therapy and medication can also be given if necessary. Physical therapy can use ultrasound and other physical therapy machines, for localized contusion of soft tissues and ligaments to reduce swelling and promote healing. In addition, intramuscular claw-shaped patches can be used, which are very effective for localized soft tissue edema. Medications are usually NSAIDS-type anti-inflammatory pain relievers. These medications, unlike opioid pain medications, do not usually have an implicit nature, it is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, also different from hormones, the main effect is anti-inflammatory. Acute injury, there will be aseptic inflammation, pain is mostly built on the basis of inflammation, through the drug control inflammation, the pain is naturally relieved. What else should we pay attention to in the acute stage of sports injury? There is also a word for acute sports injury treatment, that is HARM, which is a combination of the initial letters of English (Heat, Alcohol, Run, Massage), and the meaning of the name HARM is to warn us what we can not do in the early 72 hours of the injury? Represented by the Chinese meaning: heat therapy, alcohol, running and massage. 1, Heat heat therapy, it is easy to understand, in the acute stage can not use hot packs, as well as those will be hot, irritating ointment or cream and other substances. These substances will cause local inflammation and bleeding edema more powerful, not conducive to early healing; 2, Alcohol alcohol, acute injury period, can not drink alcohol. The role of alcohol instead easy to increase swelling, not easy to subside. At the same time, alcohol may stimulate blood vessels to affect the blood supply, is not conducive to further tissue healing; 3, Run running or training means, after the injury should try to use the injury site to get enough rest, if excessive running or then participate in training, will aggravate the damaged tissue. Therefore, in the absence of complete healing before, try to stop the previous sports and training; 4, Massage massage, the early stage of the injury is must pay attention to not local massage. Originally local bleeding tissue through a series of treatment, slowly vasoconstriction swelling, but if the massage will again induce local bleeding, aggravate the symptoms of swelling and pain, this point and the Chinese medicine point of view may be somewhat inconsistent. But after the acute period, you can use some light massage to help recovery.