If you pull or strain a muscle, tendon or ligament while playing a sport or exercising, you have a soft tissue injury. Soft tissue injuries can be very painful due to the physical trauma of the injury. This results is swelling, stiffness, pain and muscle or joint tenderness due to blood flowing to the affected area.

Using ice or gel packs with cold therapy methods slows down the circulation around the injury, reducing inflammation, muscle spasms and overall pain. Cold therapy also causes your blood vessels to constrict, which reduces swelling.

The Rice Method (Rest, Ice, Compression, Evaluation)

There is a common method for recovery referred to as The RICE Method. When you incur an injury that needs cold therapy, you can apply the RICE method for 24-48 hours after the injury:

• Rest the affected area
• Ice the pain area to reduce swelling
• Compress, or loosely wrap the area to help decrease the swelling
• Evaluate: raise the sore body part above the level of your heart. This reduces pain, throbbing, and any internal bleeding that can lead to bruises.

Apply cold therapy for 15-20 minutes, remove it for 10 minutes, and then reapply.