Sports and Your Injuries
If you play sports, you’ve most likely sustained an injury, and you’ve most likely heard your coach or another player tell you that you should “Ice that.” You may have heard it so much that you might think ice is nature’s Aspirin, or maybe it’s the other way around. Well, there’s a time to apply ice and there’s a time to apply heat to those injuries.
Ice Vs. Heat
A pulled groin or strained tendon, which can exhibit itself as various injuries, occurs when the soft tissue is damaged because the blood supply and oxygen that normally goes to these tissues is cut off.
When those blood vessels are cut off, they leak blood and serum into neighboring vessels causing pain, swelling, tenderness, and stiffness. Icing the injured area will help prevent blood and serum from leaking by constricting the blood vessels, thus minimizing pain and swelling.
While applying heat immediately after the injury will widen the capillaries and cause inflammation and slow the healing process, there is a time to apply heat. Though, that time is not until the day after you have sustained the injury and applied ice to it.
Applying ice causes the blood in the injured blood vessels to form blood clots. That is what slowed down the bleeding and helped your body begin the healing process. But that blood remains in the tissue needs to be reabsorbed by the body, and this is when applying heat will help.
If your injury does not subside a few days after you begin applying ice and then heat, you will want to do the best thing for your long-term health and well-being, and make an appointment with an upper cervical chiropractor. Upper cervical specialist are uniquely trained to address complicated spinal injuries and other neurological problems. If you are experiencing pain from an injury is important that you have a thorough evaluation of your spinal column including the alignment between your head and neck as soon as possible.
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Dr. Armen Manoucherian of Health Edge Family Spinal Care in Glendale, California is a Glendale Chiropractor and Upper Cervical Specialist trained by the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA). He has helped many children and adults find natural relief in Glendale, California. His upper cervical clinic also serves the communities of Pasadena, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Burbank. 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. More information can be found on his website at https://www.healthedgela.com