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 Discussing Post-Injury Acute/Chronic Pain, and the Outdated "RICE" Protocol

02/28/24 • 81 min

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 He gives us answers why the “R” in the RICE protocol (REST), is outdated.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- Resting Protocols After an Injury - Is the "RICE" protocol outdated?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

Previous Episode

Health Activation: Breathing Exercise to Relieve Stress

Are you feeling wound up, frustrated, anxious, or resentful? Do you need a technique and exercise to quickly dump stress in the middle of your work day?
In this episode, Monica guides listeners on a breathing journey that is meant to cleanse resentment, stress, frustration and anger. Clearing these emotions allows for the newness of spring to bring fresh opportunities into our lives, and rid ourselves of stress.
In Chinese Medicine, the spring is related to the Liver. As you perform this teapot breathing exercise, Monica will teach you about this hardworking organ and how we can best support it. Releasing tension in your Liver will help release stress and any feelings of being wound-up.
Using your outbreath, you will imagine resentment and stress leaving your body in the form of steam from a boiling tea pot.
It is less important on trying to execute this exercise perfectly, and more important to focus on the intention of this type of breathing. Your intention should be to let go of stress, and breathe in new life.
We hope you enjoy the session!
Monica is a Chinese Medicine Practitioner, Acupuncturist, and Manual Osteopath and has a private practice in Nelson BC, nestled in the mountains of the Kootenay ranges.
Follow Monica on Instagram! @acu_osteo_nelson
Monica's professional website: www.acunelson.com

Next Episode

The Myths of Deep Tissue Massage

Deep Tissue Massage is all the rage. "No pain, no gain" has become a term that echoes through the offices of therapists everywhere. When we are talking about acute or chronic pain, are painful treatments the only way we can attain muscle, tendon, and ligament release?
In this episode, we discuss our anecdotal and scientific psychology perspectives around deep tissue massage. Why is it so popular? What is a "release"? Can deep tissue massage injure a patient? Is there an emotional component to the amount of pressure a person is able to receive?
Podcast Summary Notes
- Intro
- Forrest discusses how the concept of personal space may inhibit us from actually getting as deep into muscle tissue as we think we are
- What is deep tissue massage? Because as Forrest points out, it's not taught in RMT schools in BC
- Forrest shares a clinical story
- Working the correct muscle group
- Fascia release - what are we actually doing?
- The Psychology of deep tissue massage
- What is a "release"?
- Nourishment of tissues from a Chinese Medicine perspective
- Tendons and ligament release
- Injury from deep tissue massage with story
- How to communicate with patients regarding pressure during massage
- How do we educate patients about the risk vs. reward with deep tissue massage
- Patients may feel pain in one area, but it's caused from a remote area of the body
- What does it mean when a joint is "out"?
- Can massage address alignment issues?
- Conclusion
Thank you so much for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Health-FULL!
To learn more about Monica, visit her website at www.acunelson.com
Instagram: @acu_osteo_nelson
To learn more about Forrest, visit his website at: www.rebalancing.ca
Instagram: @rebalance_mte