Quote:
Originally Posted by Titan
Think about this post for a second. Take anti-inflammatory. If that is not for you, add heat. 
This makes no sense. You use ice 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. This reduces inflammation. Heat might feel good but it draws blood to the area which is what inflammation is. You don't want that. |
I have taken Sports Med so I completely understand where this comment is coming from, but the logic around it isn't textbook.
Yes, you want to rid the inflammation so the anti-inflammatory is used to get rid of the swelling. However, the shock of the cold causes those muscles to clench and contract (think of putting ice on any other injury. Do you usually have that little jump since its cold? Now think of doing that on an area which would normally tense when you apply it to another injury that's already tensed up from an injury) and that just makes it worse. Heat is better so that you can make the muscle relax since most people with this are experiencing consistent pain and throwing cold is just piling on stress to the muscle.
Also, you want to encourage blood flow. Muscles are repaired with oxygen, nutrients and proteins from the blood. If you are causing blood flow to be restricted in the area, you are slowing the healing process. Encouraging the blood to flow a little more in the area is actually helping the muscle pull to heal.
It's not a textbook muscle pull injury/care sort of thing.
