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Five point two million Australians suffer a sports-related injury each year
Basic first aid for sprains, strains and joint injuries.
COLD COMPRESSES FOR SPRAINS AND STRAINS
Sprains and strains are common injuries in many sports and part of the specialty treatment area of sports medicine. In addition to other care given for sprains and strains, cold compresses are often used as soon as any bleeding has been controlled.
How Cold Helps Initially
When a person twists an ankle or knee, the tissues underneath the skin are injured. Blood and fluids seep out from the torn blood vessels and cause swelling to occur at the site of the injury. Once bleeding has been controlled, cold can be applied to make the broken blood vessels constrict, thus limiting further blood and fluid loss.
Cold has been widely used as a first response to a sprain or strain, but recent research has shown that cold is best used only after any internal bleeding has been controlled, as cold inhibits clotting initially. For example, a likely ankle sprain requires initial first aid for the damage to internal blood vessels and muscle fibres, and cold can then be used in the second stage of treatment as an aid to recovery
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