Acute Injury Management
Is RICER Still Relevant?
Acute injury management is an ever evolving area of research. Over the many years of research many acronyms have been developed in order to educate us about the best way to manage a sudden injury or incident.
You may have previously heard of RICE or RICER, POLICE, PEACE & LOVE and many other acronyms but because of all these different phrases it places a lot of confusion in regards to what to do.
Each professional has their preference in regards to what is best and I would like to add my opinion into the mix.
Hypothetically think about this scenario, I have rolled my ankle playing netball or from doing some gardening, the pain is instant and there is some significant swelling. Fortunately, however, I am still able to weight bear so I am able to walk to the kitchen and take a seat at the table. What do I do from here?
Generally speaking all of the above acronyms are very similar and as such I would like to use the acronym police because it is simple to understand.
P stands for protect, which is very similar to the rest aspect of RICER. After suffering an injury its important to provide an environment in which body part or ankle in this case is protected which as a result allows the body part to rest. For example in our scenario above depending on the severity it may be suitable to either strap the ankle, brace the ankle or potentially put the ankle in a moon boot.
O and L stands for optimal loading. What we are starting to understand now is that after a short period of relative rest, the body part will respond well to some light movement and some gentle resistance. Again you can modify this depending on the severity with either a moon boot or brace in the above scenario but long story short is some light loading will ultimately help your recovery.
I stands for ice. Ice is fantastic for pain relief end of story! Despite some research coming out that ice for an extended period of time is not ideal for the healing process, having an ice pack on for 15 minutes a few times a day will not hurt.
C stands for compression. Compression is beneficial because it reduces the level of swelling that may happen. This can be particularly helpful in the above scenario because there are lots of little ligaments down at the foot and ankle.
And finally E which stands for elevation. Elevation much like compression can be beneficial for reducing swelling but remember that you need to elevate your leg higher than your heart.
If you our anyone else you know has suffered from an acute injury or if you just had some questions relating to this blog, please contact me on the details below.
Chris Pearson
Physiotherapist & Accredited Exercise Physiologist
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