Why We Don't Ice Injuries Anymore

The mnemonic - RICE (Rest; Ice; Compression; Elevation), was created by Dr Gabe Mirkin in 1978 and written about in his book, Sports Medicine.. Ever since then we have been slapping ice packs onto acute injuries but just over a year ago, the same Dr Mirkin stated: "Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping".

Healing requires inflammation, your body has it's own inflammatory cells (macrophages) which get sent to an area of damage to promote healing. Applying ice to the area actually slows down the circulation and therefore the rate at which the macrophages can do their job. Anything that reduces inflammation also delays healing; this means that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's) like ibuprofen also delay the healing process.

When it comes to acute injuries, as long as you have been cleared for any fractures and only have soft tissue damage, you are better off applying a cloth soaked in apple cider vinegar to the injured area, with cling film, to keep in the moisture (this can increase the rate of recovery and has been used for hundreds of years to help the body rid of inflammation without compromising blood supply to the area). Compression and movement within a range that does not increase pain and discomfort is also recommended.

And then, of course, a rehabilitation programme to get you back to full pain-free function.

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The Turkish Get-Up

The Turkish Get-Up (TGU), one of my favourite movements as it requires & improves mobility; stability; strength; cross lateralisation (right brain communicating with left brain); proprioception; balance AND it feels great to do!

A client of mine who had previously been training in a group setting elsewhere had been told that she couldn’t partake in the TGU portion of the class as she was unable to do them properly. The TGU was one of her goals working with me so we started by breaking down the separate components of the TGU and teaching her brain to learn each phase of the movement using only her bodyweight.  At the start she struggled with the initial phase of the TGU (going from lying on your back to propped up on your elbow).  This phase requires good reflexive stability through both the Anterior Oblique Sling & Posterior Oblique Sling (Anterior - adductors; same side internal oblique; opposite external oblique & pec minor. Posterior - Lat; Thoracolumbar fascia; opposite side Glut Max).

The TGU predominantly utilises the transverse plane (rotation), taking my client back to basics by retraining rolling patterns significantly improved her initial phase of the Get-Up within the same session.  We spent  as long as we needed, dedicating about 5-10 minutes of each session, practising the Get-Up until I was happy she was moving smoothly enough to progress onto the next phase.  All the other movements chosen for our workout session were geared at feeding the Get-Up.

Now she is able to power through the whole TGU from ground to standing with more fluidity and ease of movement.  This is a great milestone for her progression! It also translates over to life, as she has been feeling a lot more flexible and stronger in her day to day life, which for us at moov pt, is more important than anything else! 

Being able to assess WHY someone is struggling through a certain phase of any movement and having the ABILITY to apply movement correctives to ENABLE that person to access that phase more efficiently is what we are about at moov pt.  Tapping into someone's motor control system to make positive change takes KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE along with an extensive library of corrective exercises.  

If you are trying to achieve a complex movement, make sure you break it down into it's individual parts and spend as much time needed on each component to give your brain a chance to learn what you are trying to achieve.