Injury Management
️ &
- Something to think about the next time you have an ankle sprain, or any other musculoskeletal injury!
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Have you ever heard of the RICE principle? It’s a common and well-known principle of soft tissue injury management (rest, ice, compress, elevate). This well known method focuses more on the acute management of soft tissue injuries. However, it fails to address the subacute and chronic stages of tissue healing.
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Interesting enough, The British Journal of Sports Medicine have recently released a new way of dealing with soft tissue injuries that go against what we have been doing all these years. Dubois and Esculier (2019) have redefined the acronym PEACE & LOVE.
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“PEACE” brings together the therapeutic components that should be used in the acute phase. A few days after the injury, you should be thinking about “LOVE” - See WHY this helps to improve your function after an injury ⬇️
➡️ Protect the injured structure by reducing the load on the injured limb or avoiding the use of certain muscles
➡️ Elevate higher than the heart to help minimize pooling of distal fluids.
➡️ Avoid anti-inflammatory modalities - drugs such as ibuprofen, diclofenac and naproxen have shown to inhibit the inflammatory process, which in turn impairs the healing process. ICE 🧊 may also have the same effect*
➡️ Compress the injured area using taping or a bandage to decrease swelling
➡️ Educate patients on the many benefits of an ‘active’ approach to recovery instead of a ‘passive’ approach
➡️ Loading the area without exacerbating pain promotes repair and builds tissue tolerance
➡️ Optimism - People who are more optimistic are associated with better outcomes and prognosis
➡️ Vascularisation - Cardiovascular activities is the best thing you can do early on in treatment to boost motivation and increase blood flow to the injured structures
➡️ Exercise helps to restore mobility, strength and proprioception early after an injury. Make sure you use pain as your guide so you don’t disrupt healing
Research is always changing and It’s important to keep up-to-date on evidence based practice to ensure that you are getting the best possible care!
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What are your thoughts on ️ &
️ , and have you heard of this!?
Reference:
Dubois, B., & Esculier, J. (2019). Soft-tissue injuries simply need PEACE and LOVE. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(2), 72-73. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2019-
