Inflammation after an injury is the body’s way of trying to stabilize the injury. The swelling is the body trying to pump blood and nutrients to the injured area and also draw away the “bad blood”, etc. Ice slows down blood flow, slows down movement, and really preserves things. Dr. Starrett says “In Eastern and Chinese medicine they use ice for dead things, to preserve it”. We are not a corpse so do we need preservation? So does ice heal or preserve the swelling?

Dr. Starrett uses a great example to help with the paradigm shift. He says “if you are driving a car and want to stop it, you can turn the ignition off, and it will stop, but it will also lock up. You’ll only be able to stop the car by turning off the ignition a few times before something bad happens. It works at times but it’s not a good option”. So icing may numb/stop pain like turning the car off to stop it, but it’s not really a good option.

“There are only a few options to remove swelling, time, or if you want go faster you will have to use other options” says Starrett. Numbing (with ice) actually reduces circulation so good blood is not able to get to the injured area to begin the repair. “The numbing effect by the ice also cuts off the connection from the brain, and thus preventing the recovery or the brain’s ability to send hormones to help with the healing process” notes Starrett. Ice numbs as do drugs/medications. Starrett tells us that both ice and pain pills cut off pain but aren’t healing. Swelling is part of the healing process as we noted, the need is to then move the waste out. Dr. Starrett calls it “groceries in and garbage out” (with the new blood and nutrients getting to the injury, and the waste needing to flush/ moving out).

Dr. Starrett asked us a question. “When you ice does it get into the joints? No? Why do you ice for 20min, what is it that makes that the time line? Is it based on any scientific fact? How cool do you need to get the injured area? We don’t take the temperature of the area we are icing to see if it’s reached some desired temperature. Why? What is it all based on?”

Ponder those questions on icing!

Dr. Starrett says we seek to remove the swelling so to promote function. By that we mean we are getting the blood moving, we are getting motion and movement back and we are getting back to where we could move like before (function). There is only one way to flush that swelling out and that is through the Lymphatic System(the body’s system of tissues and organs that help the body remove waste, toxins, and other unwanted things from the body). That occurs with time or compression.

Now if you can get a Mark Pro that is a great way to get muscle contraction and compression to get the swelling moving through the Lymphatic System, but it’s a pricey tool. Using the Voodoo Floss is a quick and easy way to reduce swelling and to help flush out the waste. The Voodoo Floss is a thin, very stretchable rubber band that can be tied/wrapped around swelling and force the waste/toxin to start moving out through the lymphatic system. Dr. Starrett suggests that every trainer have one, and that every athlete keep on in their kit bag. It’s cheap and easy to use.