In my career icing always shortened my recovery time. I did continue to test this therapy though. Mainly because it is a pain in the butt to ice your arm after ever game and I also was a little curious as to why we do this.

If someone challenges your opinion on this argument, or you want a final answer, you need to look at the study that the American Journal of Sports Medicine has posted here on Cryotherapy on rats. I know we are not rats but muscularly we are similar.

To prevent your brain from exploding when reading this study I have posted my layman’s explanation below. I hope this helps!

The American Journal of Sports Medicine states that Cryotherapy for 6 hours significantly restored diminished functional capillary density, markedly decreased elevated intramuscular pressure, reduced the number of adhering and invading granulocytes, and attenuated tissue damage. If this sounds Japanese to you then I have given you some definitions here that should help you understand the results.

Definitions:

• Cryotherapy – is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part.
• Intramuscular – within the muscle.
• Granulocytes – category of white blood cells. White blood cells fight bacteria and fungi in the body.
• Attenuated – reduced in strength.

Here is my explanation in layman’s terms.

The healing process is generally broken into three stages: inflammation, proliferation, and repair. The problem is prolonged or intense inflammation can cause cellular damage. This is what icing will prevent from happening if you ice within 48 hours of the injury or overuse of the muscle. Icing will then prevent further damage of the soft muscle tissue so the healing process can continue with minimal damage. Therefore icing supports the healing process and does not inhibit it.

Before this article I also wrote an article in response to something that Dick Mill’s posted on icing. He is probably the one who has started the roomer that icing is bad for healing. I suggest reading this article as well because it talks about Dr. Meeusen’s studies on prolonged icing. This is why I recommend icing for only 10-15 minutes at a time.

Why Pitchers should ICE their arms?

When body tissues are cooled, nerve cells in the chilled area initially force adjacent blood vessels to constrict, leading to a marked reduction in blood flow to that part of the body. However, if the temperature of the affected area continues to drop, nerve activity is depressed and the blood vessels begin to open up, flooding the injured tissues with blood, even though cold is still being applied. This flood-of-blood (Hunting effect) is the human body’s reflex reaction to thwart severe cold injury in a body part subjected to chilling stress.

Dr. Meeusen’s studies showed that icing initially stops the swelling and blood flow of the damaged blood vessels into the local muscle tissue but after a period of 10 minutes it can begin to have an opposite effect to the area. His documentation continues to state this damage continues on to another important system of healing.

Lymphatic Vessels: Prolonged ice application can cause lymphatic vessels (which ordinarily help carry excess tissue fluids back into the cardiovascular system) to increase in permeability. This causes large amounts of fluid to pour from the lymphatics “the wrong way” into the injured area, increasing local swelling and pressure, potentially contributing to greater pain. If icing goes on too long, the lymphatic vessels can actually be nearly obliterated, losing all of their fluid to surrounding tissues.

The lesson here is NOT that icing is bad. What we have learned is that icing is effective initially but begins to cause problems after about 10 minutes. Read the description below for the proper way to ice the arm after a game to help aid the healing process.

Ice the elbow or shoulder region for 10 minutes immediately after pitching (DO NOT PUT ICE ON ULNAR NEVER), remove the ice for about 30 minutes, and then reapply it for 10 additional minutes. Repeat this cycle of about two 10-minute icings per hour as often as desired, based on how many pitches thrown, during the first 24 to 48 hours after pitching.

I also recommend that you use a heavy bag of icing. A little bag of ice will not cool off the area enough. You can put a towel on your arm to prevent freezer burn but try to use a bag of ice that almost hurts it is so cold. I also recommend taking a cold shower instead of a warm or hot shower post game for the same healing benefits of icing.