How should we ice, then?
Kelly Starrett’s MobilityWOD put out the message that icing is no longer recommended. After a lot of discussion and digestion, I posted a response about whether or not we should still ice. It looked at several issues from the MWOD post, including the cited research. The conclusion was that the research and practice were conflicting, and therefore it’s too inconclusive to definitively throw icing out the window. Furthermore, there were just too many unanswered questions about the effect of ice on things like lymphatics permeability and prostaglandins. The MWOD post also didn’t distinguish between different types of injuries, which is incredibly important. To clarify, none of this is an attack on Kelly himself. Remember that he’s arguably done more for prehab and rehab in the last few years than anyone else. The fact that he’s so well respected is why I’m researching and discussing the “do not ice” claim in depth. It’s okay to disagree with someone; at the same time it’s still possible ...