Icing or Heating before activity?

[Taylor]

Recently i've been having some shoulder stiffness, i think it's from the repetitive motion of throwing a baseball over and over

i bought one of those ice sleeves you can put your arm in, it ices the front,side and back of your shoulder and you can adjust another part to cover you biuceps, triceps or elbow area....after i ice it down it feels much better, not nearly as stiff

i have not iced it before any of my games but i was wondering if icing it or heating it would help it or if that's not smart to do before some type of activity


i normally play double headers, and this shoulder stiffness has been making my throwing a little wild, it doesn't bother me at all when i hit but sometimes in the 2nd game it gets mega-stiff, so I DH'd the second game of the most recent set

[shortz]

Whether you heat or ice depends on the condition of the injury or aggitation. If there is no swelling, heating before a game is best. If you ice the area, it can cause the joint to stiffen more instead of allowing it to warm up and get loose. NEVER put heat on an injury that still has swelling. You ice it on and off until swelling goes down, then heat if it makes it feel better to do so.

After the game, it would be good to ice it ever time, even if there is not really any pain right away, it can help. As a rule of thumb, if you are not sure whether there is swelling or not, use ice immediately and then heat can be used after 24 hours.

[Taylor]

well there hasn't been any noticeable swelling

i just got one of those arm sleeves i was talking about and have been wearing it everymorning for about 40 minutes and then at night for about 40 minutes before i go to bed....haven't had a game since i've been using it
i did throw batting practice to another team i was helping coach tho and my arm felt alot more alive then it has been in the past couple of weeks after i had been icing it a few days

before i'd just grab a bag of brussel sprouts out of the freezer and throw it on whatever ached

[Primal Instinct]

Originally Posted by Taylor

before i'd just grab a bag of brussel sprouts out of the freezer and throw it on whatever ached

Well there you have it! Everyone knows that a bag of frozen peas always works much better than frozen broccoli. Switch over and see a huge difference in recovery times.

[THE BOUNCER]

ice for swelling, and heat for stiffness.

[Vage]

If its before activity i suggest heating.

Heating of course, relaxes the muscle and keeps it loose, preparing it better for repatative motions.

Heating also stimulates ur veins and opens them up just a bit more, causing greater blood flow to that area (Hence a reason u dont heat things when they are swelling, it would make it worse)

Icing can help numb and dull pain, but it tightens the arteries and veins up considerably, restricting blood flow and muscle motion, which is bad for excircising that area. You also never want to ice and area, then wear something restricting on that area for fear of cutting off circulation.


Best bet before excercise, if ur not worried about swelling, ice it for 20 mins, heat it for 10-20, then go stretch it out and throw.

If its off time, taking care of it, just go back and forth a few times, and dont end on ice.

[Shibby]

I'm not sure what you mean by wearing something restricting, but wearing something with compression after icing is ideal to keep the swelling down and allowing the injury to continue with the healing process. Icing then heating before exercises is redundant. You wouldn't want to apply heat right after icing. That can cause plenty of tissue damage since your body is unable to respond to the change in temperature properly and you run the risk of heating the surrface tissues at too hot of a temperature. In addition if you are at a point in recovery where it is ok to apply heat before exercising, then the first 48-72 hour swelling period should be over. So just go right ahead and heat, massage and stretch. Icing will only make the process take longer.