Is Rest Best? Discussing Post-Injury Acute/Chronic Pain, and the Outdated "RICE" Protocol

Pain and injuries are terrible and stressful. Whether it's your brain, muscles, ligaments, tendons or bones - our bodies need movement, circulation, and range of motion - in order to heal. Making the decision between resting, or, movement - can massively affect your healing trajectory.
In this guest episode, we have scouted out industry professional Josh Lehman - an experienced concussion and vestibular physiotherapist. He gives us answers why the “R” in the RICE protocol (REST), is outdated. We discuss our anecdotal ideas, plus scientific research, to get to the bottom of preconceived ideas about resting, and how thought processes around healing from an injury and acute/chronic pain are changing.
EPISODE NOTES
- Introductions
- Resting Protocols After an Injury - Is the "RICE" protocol outdated?
- Can going about our normal daily activities and sports help us heal faster after an injury, as opposed to resting?
- Forrest tells a personal story about how is acute neck pain was cured by playing an intense soccer game.
- Is pain a bad thing? Is it really all in the brain? Do the feel good hormones of doing the activities we love actually help us heal?
- How do we prevent our brain from catastrophizing our pain after an injury?
- Practicing graded exposure and progressive overload after an injury
- Josh shares a personal story about injuring his ribs and returning to hockey after one week
- Discussion about "hurt verses harm"; what's the worst that can happen if I do this activity?
- Does overdoing it after an injury cause the body to lay down more scar tissue?
- The P in Price - how "protect" is really important after an injury
- Is icing helpful?
- An explanation of benefits of contrast therapy (hot and cold)
- Chinese Medicine explanation of icing,
- Vasoconstriction and vasodilation as a pump
- New acronyms to replace PRICE - "MEAT, PEACE, and LOVE" (you'll have to listen to understand this)
- Is pushing to a thresh hold after a head injury advised? Can it cause long term damage?
- Josh explains how cardio can help greatly after a brain injury
- Comparisons to animals and how they do not have society telling them pain is a threat. How does societal beliefs affect healing and our own catatrophizing?
- The importance of people receiving validation after an injury
- Using ACL as an example of mobilization
- Professionalism chat: what is professional?
- NSAIDS vs. Analgesics
- Pain described as a stop light
- Why "perfect" in the body is not attainable
- Conclusions
Thanks so much for tuning in! We hope you enjoy this episode.
To learn more about Josh Lehman, and his clinic Nelson Physio AKA "TheLab", visit his website at www.nelsonphysio.com
Instagram: @nelsonphysio & @physio.brothers
To learn more about Monica Ander, visit www.acunelson.com
Instagram: @acu_osteo_nelson
To learn more about Forrest Mac Ivor, visit rebalancing.ca
Instagram: rebalance_mte