How Does Icing an Injury Help?
Before Icing or Using Cold Packs on a Fresh Injury, First Determine if You Have Acute or Chronic Inflammation.
Acute inflammation
This type is short-lived and goes away within hours or days. It’s a response to an illness or injury. Your body sends inflammatory cells to the site of the problem so you can start recovering. If you have acute inflammation, you may know exactly what caused it: an injury or a bacterial or viral illness.
Chronic inflammation can last months or years, even after the thing that triggered the inflammation is gone. In certain diseases, your body’s defense system — your immune system — triggers inflammation when there are no invaders to fight off. This process is involved in some types of arthritis, for instance. In these autoimmune diseases, your immune system acts as if regular body tissues are infected or somehow unusual and attacks them, causing damage.
Among the things that can cause chronic inflammation are:
- Lack of exercise
- Chronic stress
- Obesity
- Too many unhealthy microbes in your gut
- Too few healthy microbes in your gut
- Poor sleep
- Exposure to toxins, such as air pollution or dangerous chemicals
- Tobacco use
- Drinking too much alcohol
Inflammatory diseases
Common inflammatory conditions include:
- Neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s
- Autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and psoriasis
- Gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and ulcerative colitis
- Mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety
- Cardiovascular issues such as high blood pressure and heart disease
- Lung disease such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD)
- Metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes
- Certain cancers
Some types of arthritis are the result of inflammation, such as:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Gout
Osteoarthritis — the most common type — is a degenerative disorder, not an autoimmune disease. Think of it as a “wear and tear” issue.