Monday, December 29, 2008

RICE and ICE

Running definitely takes a toll on your body, as I guess, does every physical activity. The key, to me, as you get older is to moderate it and adjust the levels to match your current fitness and state.

Still, injuries will occur, and while I don’t think I’ve gotten any while running the last 100+ days, I have had to run with injuries from other parts of my life, notably ankle, hamstring, and knee issues. They haven’t been bad and I try to assess as I warm up and start running if I’m OK or doing more damage. So far none of the latter.

So what do you do?

I always learned in sports medicine, mostly when being treated for something, that RICE was the best idea.

  • Rest
  • Ice
  • Compression
  • Elevation

It’s a formula I’ve tried to follow, and as things have hurt, I’ve put an ice pack in a wrap I have, put it tight on the ankle/knee/leg, and then lain in bed. It’s not really elevated, but I haven’t had serious injuries.

When I was rehabbing my shoulder in college, I also learned WHEN to do this. Obviously right after injury, but not just then. You want to continue it later in the day, 15 minutes on, 15 off.

But not in the morning. I learned that as well. As you get going for your day, and you need to use the body part, warmth and heat are better. I haven’t done that part, but again, no serious injury. Instead, I move on with my day, and after I’ve exercised, I’ll add ice again the next night.

Seems to be working so far.

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