Just realized I've been icing my sprained ankle all wrong for 20 years

I kept my ankle on the ice pack for like 45 minutes straight until my coworker said it should be 20 on, 20 off to actually reduce swelling. Has anyone else been doing it wrong this whole time and had a boss or coworker set you straight?

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karen4104mo ago

No not quite right either, actually you don't want to ice it at all after the first 48 hours - it slows down healing. Just compression and elevation after that.

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seanjohnson4mo ago

Jumping straight in to agree with @karen410 here, because I think the 48 hour rule is probably the most overlooked part of the whole ice thing. I had a physical therapist tell me once that icing past two days actually messes with the body's natural cleanup crew (the inflammatory response, if you wanna get technical) and can leave you with more stiffness in the long run. That advice stuck with me after I spent a whole week icing a twisted knee and it just stayed puffy and sore the whole time. So yeah, wrap it tight, keep it elevated, and maybe save the ice pack for fresh injuries only - I wish someone had told me that twenty years ago too.

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