| Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. | | | | 3. Compression. |
| Doctors have recommended this method as a | | | | Compression is a great idea for a new injury where |
| standard of treating injury for decades. And while it's a | | | | there is a lot of swelling, like if you sprain an ankle or |
| good idea for the first several days after an acute | | | | blow out a knee. |
| injury, it is not the most effective treatment for chronic | | | | Using compression wraps keeps excess fluid from |
| injury like Tendonitis. | | | | filling the area. This reduces pain and all the problems |
| Below are 4 problems that make using the R.I.C.E. | | | | caused by a large Inflammation response. |
| method a bad idea for people suffering from new or | | | | But with Tendonitis, there generally is only a small |
| chronic Tendonitis, regardless of whether pain | | | | amount of swelling, if any. In the case of Tennis Elbow, |
| symptoms are mild or severe. | | | | Wrist Tendonitis, Achilles Tendonitis, Plantar Fasciitis, |
| 1. Rest. | | | | etc, there is absolutely no reason to use a |
| Rest does not cure Tendonitis. It doesn't help it heal | | | | compression wrap to limit swelling. |
| correctly, it doesn't fix the root problem, it doesn't | | | | The inflammation of a chronic Tendonitis dynamic is |
| eliminate the cause of tendonitis. | | | | deep and specific, and unaffected by compression. |
| The only benefit that resting a painful structure | | | | 4. Elevation. |
| provides is that it reduces the amount of irritation put | | | | Elevation is historically recommended to help drain |
| on a tendon injury. | | | | excess fluid out of a limb. If a person twists their ankle |
| So it looks like rest helps. That's why we constantly | | | | badly, the advice is to lay in bed or on a couch and |
| recommend it and continue to think that if we're hurting, | | | | elevate the foot higher than the level of the heart. |
| we should just rest the area. It doesn't actually help | | | | It's great for newly twisted ankles. |
| healing. It just reduces more irritation and that has the | | | | Not so effective for shoulder cuff tendonitis, or tennis |
| body turn down the protection mechanism that causes | | | | elbow, for instance. Partly because it's tough to elevate |
| the sensation of pain. | | | | these more than they are, but mostly because the |
| 2. Ice. | | | | painful day to day experience of these kinds of |
| When the body gets injured, the body starts an | | | | tendonitis problems don't have any noticeable swelling |
| Inflammation Process. Inflammation traps fluid in the | | | | as one of their symptoms. |
| area and releases chemicals which enhance your | | | | But let's say you did use a compression wrap for any |
| sensitivity to pain. The swelling that shows up after | | | | kind of Tendonitis. The key element that makes |
| injury is from Inflammation. | | | | compression wrapping useless is that it doesn't |
| Doctors prescribe the use of ice packs to be used at | | | | address the cause of the Inflammation and swelling. |
| home to fight off inflammation. They recommend using | | | | It's great to control symptoms, but it's better to |
| an ice pack 3-4 times a day for about 20 a time. | | | | effectively treat the source of the symptoms. |
| This is not a bad thing. Any amount of icing is helpful. | | | | Tendonitis follows a very set pattern of progression. |
| But icing for 20 minutes 3-4 times a day is just not | | | | Elevation does not stop or slow the progression. |
| enough to successfully overcome the Inflammation | | | | Compression does not stop or slow the progression. |
| Process of a new injury, nor a chronic injury. | | | | Ice can very much help, but as historically prescribed, is |
| The Tendonitis dynamic consists of a chronic state of | | | | just not effective for getting rid of Tendonitis. And rest |
| Inflammation. Icing just a few times a day is not going | | | | might reduce pain, it does not address the cause of |
| to affect the system enough, and not in the right way, | | | | the pain and problem, so it is a good idea to start |
| to turn that Inflammation off. | | | | looking for more effective methods of fixing your |
| Also, there is no more benefit to icing for 20 minutes | | | | Tendonitis, instead of using R.I.C.E. to continue to limp |
| than there is for 10 minutes. Cold is cold. Keeping the | | | | along. |
| area cold is not the best strategy for icing. | | | | |