Not if you want optimal healing.
In 1978, Gabe Merkin’s best-selling sports medicine book introduced the term “RICE” to health professionals and athletes the world over. To this day Rest Ice Compression Elevation is – rather unfortunately – still recommended and promoted by physical therapists, coaches and just about anyone else involved on the sidelines of sport. It is still recommended despite Dr Mirkin’s (among other scientists) more recent publications that ice may, in fact, delay tissue healing and recovery. You can read his own admission here.
In 1978, Gabe Merkin’s best-selling sports medicine book introduced the term “RICE” to health professionals and athletes the world over. To this day Rest Ice Compression Elevation is – rather unfortunately – still recommended and promoted by physical therapists, coaches and just about anyone else involved on the sidelines of sport. It is still recommended despite Dr Mirkin’s (among other scientists) more recent publications that ice may, in fact, delay tissue healing and recovery. You can read his own admission here.