How to Know Which is
Best for You
Art Riggs
We all know that
treating an injury immediately after it happens can
help minimize the pain and damage as well as
facilitate recovery. But after rolling your ankle in
a soccer game, or hurting your back when lifting
your toddler, or tweaking your knee when stepping
out of your car, what's best? Should you ice it to
try to control inflammation, or would heat be better
to promote circulation?
While it's difficult to establish a fail-safe rule
for when to apply ice or heat, the general directive
is to use ice for the first forty-eight to
seventy-two hours after an acute injury and then
switch to heat.
