Monday, February 23, 2009

Ice, Ice, Baby.....

 So I am still nursing my left foot back to full health, and have been taking it easy with running for the last 3 weeks.....I am taking anti-inflamatory medicine, stretching a lot, and giving my foot plenty of time to rest.......

I have a really good book on injury prevention and recovery called "Runner's World Guide to Injury Prevention:  How to Identify Problems, Speed Healing, and Run Pain-Free."  
This book is a great resource on injuries for runners. 

 Yesterday I re-read Chapter 8, entitled "I'm Injured: Now What?"  In  this chapter it talks about all the things you should do if you experience an injury from running....it even has a list of things to consider when deciding whether to continue to run or not that I think is good....so many runners (including me) want to keep running even when injured..this book breaks is down like this.....

Run....when you're feeling muscle aches that are not localized but general in nature or when the pain subsides as you run, but also does not return in more severe fashion after you finish.  
Don't Run....when you are experiencing a stabbing, wincing pain, or the pain clearly forces you to limp or alter your stride it, or when the pain grows worse upon running, etc.......

Another good tip from the chapter is to treat your injury with PRICE (many of you are familiar with RICE, but some doctors now add the "P" for protection as a reminder not to do more damage to the injured site.  PRICE stands for--Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.   There are tons of great tips in this one chapter alone, I plan on re-reading it as needed to get help on dealing with my injuries.

I realized as I was reading this book that I have never iced my injury, or my body period, to help with recovery or healing, so I decided I needed to try it.

This would be my first ice bath.  I went for a "test run" of about 2.5 miles, just to see how my foot was feeling. I stayed near home in case I needed to stop and walk, but overall the foot felt pretty good...just a little twinge towards the end.  But after reading so many other people proclaim the wonders of ice baths and ice treatments, I decided to give it a try.   I appreciated Aron's post recently about how to do an ice bath, although mine was just a foot bath today, and I must say it wasn't too bad. I could only last about 5 minutes with my foot in the ice, and the foot felt pretty good afterwards.  Of course my two sons came in and had to stick their feet in as well....my oldest lasted almost a minute with his foot in the ice and my youngest, pictured below, lasted about 17 seconds.  We had a fun male bonding moment icing our feet together...


Finally, check out Every Gym's Nightmare for a giveaway!

15 comments:

Unknown said...

I've iced injuries, but never the ice bucket or bath. Still not brave enough for that...

Joe said...

I just tried my first ice bath after a long run of 17 miles. Actually, I didn't have ice, so I just filled the tub with cold water. It wasn't too bad, maybe next time I'll try adding ice.

KimsRunning said...

I dangle my legs in the pool. It's about 60 degrees right now, so it's cold for Florida. I does help too!

Good luck with that injury...it's hard to not run and let it heal.

Being Robinson said...

YAY for ice baths! Glad it helped. I would shove my stress fx foot in an ice bath for as long as possible and it always helped. Hope you are back out there soon!

TiredMamaRunning said...

Ice baths...exquisite pain that your body will thank you for later. :)

I've found that for true ice baths (sitting in the tub, not just for the foot), it helps to sit in the tub, start running cold water, wear a sweatshirt or something (not as awful if you're keeping the core warm), and once the tub is full, have the kiddos or spouse bring you a bucket of ice. Easier than just diving right in to a tub full of ice. :D

Janice {Run Far} said...

I use to sit in a bathtub full of ice back in the day... painfull... but my kids loved it and thought it was so funny. Now I just stick to doing my feet only in a bucket.

Aron said...

YAY for ice!!!! i do love the ice bucket :) glad the foot is starting to feel better!

ShirleyPerly said...

I'm a big fan of ice baths. I really got into doing them when I ran 21 marathons in 9 months (i.e., a marathon every 1-2 weeks). They're really hard the first few times you do them but the rewards are worth it and they get easier.

Chic Runner said...

That picture of your son is too funny. Glad the ice is working for you :)

Stacey said...

I am too much of a wimp to do the ice bath thing. I have iced injuries (only when I have to). Glad it is working for you, and glad you and your boys were able to have a bonding moment!

Marci said...

Good job with the ice, your foot should be better in no time if you keep that up. Cute picture of your son icing!

Rookie on the Run said...

Well, I just keep learning new things here, in the world of running blogs! Ice baths. I think I'll have to give that a try the next time my ankles start to ache. That picture of your son is hilarious! What a little comedian!

I hope you are successful in your cold attempts at getting your foot healed!

RunToTheFinish said...

hmm someone to share the ice bath with.. there's an idea. so what's it say about speed healing, that's what I need :)

Every Gym's Nightmare said...

hope the foot feels better! thanks for the shout out!

Kelly Turner
www.everygymsnightmare.com

Missy said...

Ice baths SUCK BUT...they work. I put in just enough where I can sit in it with a coat and hat on to stay warm (very HOOOT look). Freeze the lower extremities until the skin falls off. That's how you know it's been long enough.