Read this article and the linked studies for my real life job and would imagine it would translate to other mammals (ie horses) as well. Interesting. Something to ponder.
Interesting but not really on point for being harmful in treating strains and contusions in Equines or humans and pretty sure there’s other studies saying otherwise. Will go along with not leaving the ice on for too long as both my vet and MD have been saying that for some time though without defining “too long”.
These studies are stating, contrary to popular belief and prior research, ice does not shorten healing time of soft tissue injuries and can be counteractive by inhibiting the body’s natural response to healing these injuries. I prefer the most recent, evidence based, peer reviewed studies rather than relying on “well, that’s how we’ve always done it.” I know others do as well so I was just throwing it out there even though it’s not an equine study.
7 Likes
Well, there are two studies linked in that blog post, and neither of them states that icing/cryotherapy is contraindicated for soft tissue injury.
One is a nearly 15-year-old meta-analysis that looks at the methodologies and reporting of prior research studies and finds that ice is widely shown to relieve pain but that the support for prior hypotheses about ice speeding return to participation in activity is probably insufficient. It does not focus specifically on healing of a certain type of injury, and it does not provide any evidence that ice is ineffective or detrimental to healing/return to activity. It only questions prior findings that ice is helpful, largely on methodological grounds (in particular, that randomized controlled studies are not part of the body of supporting evidence).
The other study, also not new (2006), looks at inflammatory processes related to exercise, not injury, and finds that applying ice packs after exercise interferes with both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory processes, but has no general effect on athletic performance or muscle recovery associated with training. The authors recommend that cryotherapy be restricted to acute injury instead of being used in ordinary muscle recovery from exercise. This one looked at one Israeli junior handball team, and would certainly be subject to the same kinds of methodological criticisms that are the basis of the meta-analysis rejecting the evidence for ice as an effective treatment for injury.
So what we have are questions about the evidence for ice’s benefits, and some evidence that ice isn’t particularly helpful to the recovery and development of non-injured muscles. Not evidence that ice is contraindicated for soft tissue injuries.
I’m really sympathetic to the idea that icing is most useful in really limited contexts (within hours of an acute injury, for the purposes of controlling inflammation and pain) and that it might not be particularly beneficial in many of the situations in which it is commonly used. But that blog post isn’t applying a high standard of science communication by linking to those two particular articles to support an argument that ice is potentially detrimental to soft tissue injury healing. It neither points to the most recent research in the area nor interprets the studies it does cite responsibly. The idea at the center of the post has merit, but the poor standards of science communication do a disservice to the message.
4 Likes
I agree that there is not much real evidence to support the author’s claims. I also agree that the inflammatory response is normal and beneficial, to some degree. Do you really need tree trunk legs?
With horses, you can’t elevate, so rest, ice and compression are used routinely to manage athletes. I don’t think there is a study comparing a group of race horses that get iced every day after training with a group of race horses that do not get iced.
I don’t think there is anything you can do to truly “speed” healing, although you certainly can slow it down.
Medical jargon make my eyes bleed but the way I read this, one study dealt with human joint replacements and I know it specifically said there was no research on the use of ice with contusions and muscle strains, in other words, soft tissue injuries. And it did say it helped reduce pain. Never thought it sped healing, just reduced discomfort, bruising and swelling in both humans and equines, uses not dealt with in this study.
Icing Equines is relatively new, was not done when I started out, think the ATL Olympic research on heat management in horses during strenuous exertion changed the long held manament traditions.
Icing has been around for decades, and would have been used more in the past if you didn’t have to get into your car and drive to 7-11 to get it. Or wait for the ice man to come around. Now most big barns at the track have ice machines.
