Do You Need Sports Injury Pain Relief? WhatEver PocKits Can Help
Sports Injury Pain Relief: Sport injuries such as a sprain, strain, muscle pull or muscle tear needs immediate treatment, and a good acronym to remember is RICE: Rest the injured body part, and Ice and Compress it in 20-minute intervals as you Elevate it. (The WhatEver PocKit kit is ideal for sports injury pain relief because it can be used on all areas of the body. Additionally, the cooling affect can be distributed evenly to the injured areas of the body.
Using Ice For Sports Injury Pain Relief
Use ice for sports injury pain relief for the following sport injuries:
Ice is used for sports injury pain relief for injuries such as a sprain; a strain; swelling; inflammation; overexerted muscles from exercise; bruising; acute joint pain. With any sprain, strain or bruise there is some bleeding into the underlying tissues. This may cause swelling and pain and can delay healing. Ice treatment may be used in both the immediate treatment of soft tissue injuries and in later rehabilitation
Immediate Treatment
During immediate treatment, the aim is to limit the body’s response to injury. Ice will: Reduce bleeding into the tissues. Prevent or reduce swelling (inflammation). Reduce muscle pain and spasm. Reduce pain by numbing the area and by limiting the effects of swelling. These effects all help to prevent the area from becoming stiff by reducing excess tissue fluid that gathers as a result of injury and inflammation.
Recovery Phase
In the later, or rehabilitation, phase of recovery the aim changes to restoring normal function. At this stage the effects of ice can enhance other treatments, such as exercise, by reducing pain and muscle spasm. This then allows better movement. If you are doing exercises as part of your sports injury pain relief treatment, it can be useful to apply an ice pack before exercise. This is so that after the ice pack is removed the area will still be a little numb. The exercises can also be done with the ice pack in place. This reduces pain and makes movement around the injury more comfortable.
Application
Ideally, ice should be applied within 5-10 minutes of sport injuries for 20 to 30 minutes, there is little benefit to be gained by leaving it on for longer. This can be repeated every 2 to 3 hours or so whilst you are awake for the next 24 to 48 hours. You run the risk of damaging the skin if ice is left on the skin for more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Note: ice can burn or cause frostbite if the skin is not protected with oil and/or other protection such as a that provided by the WhatEver PocKit kit.
After the first 48 hours, when bleeding should have stopped, the aim of treatment changes from restricting bleeding and swelling to getting the tissues remobilised with exercise and stretching.
Proactive Approach
But at other times, such as when warming muscles up before exercise or to soothe repetitive tendon strain, heat is the way to go. Use heat for the following sport injuries: overuse pain; repetitive tendon pain; before physical activity; tight or injured muscles before exercise; repetitive strains; muscle spasms; muscle pain; • chronic joint pain.
How Heat Works
When sport injuries are older than 48 hours, heat can be applied using the WhatEver PocKit kit can be used as a heat wrap or garment to provide sports injury pain relief. Heat causes the blood vessels to open wide (dilate). This brings more blood into the area to stimulate healing of damaged tissues. It has a direct soothing effect and helps to relieve pain and spasm. It can also ease stiffness by making the tissues more supple. If heat is applied to the skin it should not be hot; gentle warmth will suffice. The skin must be checked at regular intervals. Do not use heat on new sport injuries, because this will increase bleeding around the injured area and may make the problem worse.
Precautions when using heat and ice
Do not use cold packs or heat for sports injury pain relief :
- Over areas of skin that are in poor condition.
- On areas of the skin with poor sensation to heat or cold.
- Over areas of the body with known poor circulation.
- If you have diabetes.
- In the presence of infection.
- Also, do not use ice packs on the left shoulder if you have a heart condition.
- Do not use ice packs around the front or side of the neck.
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