During the first 1-2 weeks after a mild or severe ankle sprain, rest is the most appropriate, and when movement is necessary, protect the area with optimal loading. After that, no one should be doing RICE anymore. Instead, they should begin what we in our office call, AFFR or Ankle & Foot Functional Rehabilitation.
How does rice help ankle injuries?
What’s Your Concern? How Does RICE Help Ankle Injuries Heal? Uncooked rice can help save your phone if you drop it in a puddle, but another type of RICE can help your feet and ankles in the event you suffer an injury.
Why doesn’t rice work on injuries?
Elevation, by way of gravity, makes it hard for your body to get adequate blood to the injury. The problem is that RICE does work well to prevent inflammation and swelling. But those are a result of the rush of blood to the area, and you need that to happen.
Is rice the best way to treat a sprain?
For decades, RICE has been the gold standard for orthopedic injuries like minor sprains and strains. Even fractures are subjected to RICE treatment until they can be surgically repaired or permanently immobilized, usually with a fiberglass cast. But does this method work? zoff-photo / Getty Images
What's the best way to treat a twisted ankle?
Ask a doctor, a nurse, a paramedic, or an athletic trainer what to do for a twisted ankle and you're likely to hear the same advice: rest it, ice it, wrap it, and elevate it. It's a treatment regimen known as RICE: Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate. For decades, RICE has been the gold standard for orthopedic injuries like minor sprains and strains.
How long should you RICE treatment an injury?
Begin immediately after an injury, and continue treatment for the next 24–48 hours. Rest the injured area. Avoid moving it and try to keep weight off it.
How long should I ice in RICE?
Cold will reduce pain and swelling. Apply an ice or cold pack right away to prevent or minimize swelling. Apply the ice or cold pack for 10 to 20 minutes, 3 or more times a day. After 48 to 72 hours, if swelling is gone, apply heat to the area that hurts.
When should I stop icing my sprained ankle?
After an acute injury, ice should be used to minimize swelling for the first two to three days. After this period, heat can be used to increase blood flow and assist the natural healing process. Applying heat too early may cause additional swelling by increasing blood flow to the injury.
When do you stop icing an injury?
Tips for Icing an Injury Be sure to limit icing sessions to 20 minutes, because excessive icing can irritate the skin or cause tissue damage. Continue to ice the injury for the next 24-48 hours.
Can you elevate your foot too much?
Don't elevate your legs on a table or desk without a cushion to prevent the edges and corners from digging into your skin. This can cause leg pain, bruising, spider veins, and nerve damage to the area. It's also counterproductive, as it hurts circulation to the area due to excessive pressure.
How long should you RICE a sprained ankle?
RICE treatment is a first-aid treatment for soft tissue injuries like sprains, strains, and bruises — for example, sprained ankles, sprained knees, or muscle strains. It's best used immediately after sustaining an injury and should be stopped within two days (48 hours).
What happens if you ice too long?
Ice crystals form in the skin cells and blood flow slows, depriving the tissues of oxygen. As it progresses, the ice burn causes permanent damage to your skin and underlying tissues. In severe cases, it can lead to gangrene (tissue death) and amputation.
Why is my sprained ankle still swollen after 3 weeks?
"An ankle sprain that lingers beyond 3 months is often an injury to a bone, tendon or ligament that is unlikely to heal without intervention," he says. "And the longer an ankle injury persists without proper treatment, the greater the likelihood that permanent disability will result."
Does icing a sprained ankle help it heal faster?
Using an ice pack may reduce blood flow to the injury and help ease pain and swelling. The American Academy of Family Physicians suggest applying an ice pack to the sprain for 10–20 minutes at a time. Wrap the pack in a towel before laying it against the skin.
Should you ice an injury after 48 hours?
The proper way to ice an injury within the first 24-48 hours is to alternate 10 minutes of ice application, followed by 10 minutes without ice. If you don't have an ice pack, a bag of frozen vegetables is a good substitute. Never put an ice pack directly on bare skin.
Why should you not ice for more than 20 minutes?
Greater than 20 minutes of icing can cause reactive vasodilation, or widening, of the vessels as the body tries to make sure the tissues get the blood supply they need. Studies have also shown 30 to 40 minutes in between icing sessions are needed to counter this reaction.
Does icing slow healing?
Cold therapy has been used regularly as an immediate treatment to induce analgesia following acute soft-tissue injuries, however, a prolonged ice application has proved to delay the start of the healing and lengthen the recovery process.
Process
Pros
- The primary goals of RICE are to relieve pain and inflammation and help the injury heal. RICE does, in fact, reduce pain and inflammation.2 1. Resting the part means you're not causing more pain. 2. Ice numbs the area. 3. Compression and elevation keep swelling down, which also helps manage pain. When it comes to healing, though, some experts now question this conventional wisdom.2
Cons
- The evidence for using RICE—especially the ice part—is sketchy at best.3The major flaw lies in restricted blood flow. When you're injured, your body rushes more blood to the area as part of the healing process. RICE can prevent that.4
What to Do Instead
- So far, no one has come up with a handy acronym to replace RICE. Some have been suggested, including: 1. MICE (replacing rest with movement) 2. METH (movement, elevation, traction, heat) 3. MOVE (movement, options for rehabilitation and training, varied exercise, ease back into activity early) All of these are problematic, though. MICE continues to use ice and compression so it ha…
Medications
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)are a mainstay of pain and injury treatment. Remember, though, that some inflammation is good. Don't over-use them. Over-the-counter NSAIDs include: 1. Advil/Motrin (ibuprofen) 2. Aleve (naproxen) 3. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) If you continue having a lot of inflammation despite taking these medications, talk to your provider…
When to Talk to Your Doctor
- Some soft-tissue injuries can be treated at home. Others require a healthcare provider's care. Get medical attention if:11 1. You've treated an injury at home for several days but it's not improving 2. You can't move it 3. You can't put weight on it 4. It's significantly swollen 5. Pain is severe and doesn't go away with rest 6. A bone looks misaligned 7. The area turns blue 8. The injury site is n…
Summary
- The traditional RICE method for treating soft tissue injuries limits blood flow to the injury. That might slow down the healing process. Evidence suggests that movement and heat may be better for healing than rest and ice. Elevation can help keep swelling under control, and medication can help with pain while the injury heals.
A Word from Verywell
- You can find a lot of websites, coaches, and healthcare providers who still recommend RICE. That advice has been around for a long time and some people continue to swear by it. You may want to discuss the problems of RICE with your provider and look at other treatment options for pain and rehabilitation.