Growing up I always hated icing.

I hate the cold and chalked it up to that, but never

got any relief from pack or the dreaded bath. I feel pretty confident that I can speak
for just about everyone when I say that an ice bath is horrible. The idea of RICE, or
Rest Ice Compress Elevate, is no longer as staple a concept as it was in the past.
New findings in research is suggesting that it, like many now archaic concepts of
fitness past, are counterproductive or even harmful. To the world of fitness this isnt
much of a surprise as the concept was released in the late 70s (Dr. Mirkin, 1978)
and very little has stood the test of time and scientific advancements.
Ice and cold have multiple negative effects and are problematic in a recovery
environment. The initial problem is that ice constricts blood vessels and restricting
the flow of blood and can last hours. Restricting blood is restricting healing. In 2013
The American Journal of Sports Medicine published a study that found cold
application to be counterintuitive in athletic populations, which Mirkin even
accepted1. Furthermore the same study show that ice slow recovery time.
Essentially, icing is disruptive and throws the bodys natural regenerative response
to inflammation out of whack. It slows or halts the release of insulin-like growth
hormone and can last up to a week. This same response was found in another study
which used runners and post-exercise icing, and found that pro- and antiinflammatory cytokines and anabolic hormones were decreased. In 2008 and Mirkin
published findings that icing longer than 5 minutes decreased strength, speed, and
endurance and coordination2. Lastly, negative response was found in relief of DOMS
(delayed onset muscle soreness) 3.
This isnt to suggest that icing or cryotherapy have no place in sports medicine,
they certainly have uses. Fascia and fascia-related issues respond very well to cold
therapy. Icing reduced edema, edema causes additional pain in fascia pain such as
compartmental syndrome. In most up to date sports medicine practices M.C.E
(Movement, compression, elevation) or M.E.A.T (Movement, exercise, Analgesics
and Treatments) have replaced RICE. Icing briefly can be helpful, especially if used
in the right situations.

Tseng CY, Lee JP, Tsai YS, Lee SD, Kao CL, Liu TC, Lai C, Harris MB, Kuo CH. Topical
cooling (icing) delays recovery from eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. J
Strength Cond Res. 2013;27(5):1354-61. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318267a22c.
2

Nemet D, Meckel Y, Bar-Sela S, Zaldivar F, Cooper D, Eliakim A. Effect of local coldpack application on systemic anabolic and inflammatory response to sprint-interval
training: a prospective comparative trial. European Journal of Applied Physiology.
November 2009, Volume 107, Issue 4, pp 411-417.
3

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/delayed-onset-muscle-soreness.php

. (n.d.). . Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://www.macleans.ca/society/the-end-ofthe-ice-age/