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 isn’t much of a surprise as the concept was released in the late 70’s (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 body’s 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 anti-inflammatory 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 isn’t 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.

1Tseng 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.

2Nemet D, Meckel Y, Bar-Sela S, Zaldivar F, Cooper D, Eliakim A. Effect of local cold-pack 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.

3http://saveyourself.ca/articles/delayed-onset-muscle-soreness.php

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