Taking the Pain
Sports injuries are just a part of playing sports, and every athlete knows the benefits of icing those injuries. It’s easy to think that when it comes to sports injuries doing nothing more than icing any injury is the cure all that will make all of the pain go away. Ice is great, and we recommend it, but there is also a time to apply heat to that injury.
Ice Vs. Heat
When you damage the soft tissue, the blood supply and oxygen to these tissue is cut off, and that results in a pulled groin or strained tendon. Cutting off those blood vessels causes blood and serum to leak into adjacent vessels. That over abundance of blood in those vessels then causes pain, tenderness, swelling, and stiffness. The reason it’s important to ice this type of injury is because ice reduces the pain and swelling, which prevents blood and serum from leaking by constricting blood vessels.
While it may be tempting to apply heat to that injury, heat will only make the injury worse. That’s because while ice will prevent the mis-flow of blood and serum, applying heat slows the healing process because it will widen the capillaries and cause inflammation.
Though, there is a time to apply heat and that time is the day after you ice your injury. Ice will cause blood clots to form, so your body can begin the healing process. The next day you won’t want those blood clots to remain there, rather you will want the body to reabsorb the blood. That’s when you will want to apply heat to that injury.
Getting back in the Game
With most sports related injuries, applying ice the day of the injury and heat the next day should be enough to get back out on the field or court again. If it’s not, you will want to make an appointment with an upper cervical chiropractor.
Most of the time that pain can be traced back to a misalignment in your upper cervical spine, and the only way to reverse the effects of that injury is to realign the upper neck vertebrae. This will allow the rest of your body to fall back into alignment, and thus will lead to a reduction of pain from that sports related injury in your body.
To find an upper cervical specialist in your area go to http://www.NUCCA.org/ or if you are in the Chicago, Illinois area click the button below to schedule a consultation:
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Dr. Young Chung of NUCCA Wellness Clinic of Chicago, with a location in Chicago and a 2nd location in Wheeling is an Upper Cervical Specialist trained by the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA). His upper cervical clinic also serves Northbrook, Long Grove, Lincolnshire, Buffalo Grove and Vernon Hills. He is uniquely trained to correct problems in the upper cervical spine (upper neck). This vital area is intimately connected to the central nervous system and problems in this area have been shown to be an underlying cause of a variety of different health problems, including migraines and other headaches, whiplash injuries, post-concussion syndrome. This type of care has also shown benefits for athletic performance and pregnancy outcomes. More information can be found on our website at http://www.NUCCAwellnessChicago.com/
