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Benefits of Icing

Ice is widely used for pain relief, pain treatment and injury therapy for sports injury, strains and sprains, muscle soreness after exercise, tendonitis, bursitis and arthritis.

Reduces pain and DOMS - Applying ice after exercise or ice after injury to muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints reduces the pain by decreasing nerve conduction and reducing inflammation and swelling (see below). This can also reduce muscle spasm and is effective for reducing DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness that) is often not experienced until 24-48 hours after strenuous or new exercise activities.

Reduces inflammation and swelling – icing will help reduce the swelling and bruising by causing the capillaries (small blood vessels) to constrict and reduce the blood flow. This is also effective for chronic injuries such as tendonitis and bursitis, for conditions such as arthritis, and can help minimise inflammation after medical procedures, such as cortisone injections – or even surgery (please check with your doctor/surgeon before applying ice following any medical procedure).

Reduces muscle recovery time – icing can help flush out the waste products, such as lactic acid, from the muscles. The theory is that the small blood vessels are constricted as a result of the icing, but dilate quickly when the ice is removed,  producing a flushing process.

Reduces healing time – independent research has indicated that the timing of icing an injury can have a significant impact on recovery time – applying the ice as soon as possible after the injury reduced recovery time for a severe ankle sprain to 13.2 days, compared to 30.4 days when the ice was applied 36 hours after the injury (or 33.3 days when heat was used).

All of these benefits can be achieved with the wraps listed on the left, which can be used as both ice wraps and heat wraps. The wraps also mould to the body part for maximum comfort, can be easily adjusted for a comfortable fit, are safe and reusable. The Velcro straps also allow for a loose comfort fit, a tight fit or a compression fit.

The wraps are more comfortable and user-friendly than an ice pack, cold pack or a bag of ice, and the gel in the Arctic Heat wraps has been shown to retain temperature for significantly longer than similar products.

Please note that icing time should be limited to 20 minutes, and the muscle or joint should be allowed to return to normal temperature before reapplying.