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If you practice sports regularly, it is very likely that sooner or later you will suffer an injury, so it is important that you know how to react when it happens. Applying the correct protocol immediately after suffering an acute injury such as an ankle sprain, which is very common among athletes, can affect the healing of the injury over time.
I’m sure many of you are aware of the RICE protocol. This is the most famous and established a few years ago as the “official” protocol for monitoring acute injuries. RICE represents four things to remember when an acute injury occurs. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. The objective of RICE is to minimize the use of the injured area, apply cold to reduce inflation and contain possible bleeding or problems with the affected muscles and ligaments.
A few years later, the RICE protocol was superseded by the new PRICE protocol. This first adds P to the previous four acronyms and which stands for Protection.
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As of the year 2012, the POLICE protocol lands, which is more complete than PRICE and which is the acronym for Protection, Optimal Load, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
Different phases of the POLICE protocol
protection
It is important to protect your joints immediately after an injury. For this reason, protection was included in the change from the RICE protocol to PRICE, and was also maintained even when changing to the POLICE method. For an ankle sprain, protect the injured extremity with a functional bandage or ankle brace that can limit movement for immediate treatment of an acute injury.
optimal load
This is the essence of the POLICE method, the rest of the phases do not change with respect to PRICE. The optimal load of the POLICE method refers to the fact that absolute rest of the joint should be avoided since it practically never favors the healing of the lesion. In this line, it is preferable to choose a relative rest and rehabilitation with dynamic and progressive efforts that can strengthen the joint during recovery.
The POLICE method excludes rest and introduces functional rehabilitation with optimal load
A physiotherapist is the right expert to decide what will be the optimal load in functional rehabilitation to recover from injury. Obviously, this optimal load can change depending on the injury we suffer, which varies from person to person and can change over time. The optimal load can be “none” for a period of time, or it can be our own weight.
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It is very important that in the event of an injury we go to a health professional as soon as possible so that they can assess the severity of the injury, apply the appropriate treatment and we can start rehabilitation as soon as possible.
ice
Having a local inflation when injured is one of the basic concepts that we must know. We can reduce inflammation by applying ice applied discontinuously and protecting the area of application with an appropriate method (the ice pack can be wrapped with a cloth or towel to avoid skin burns). In addition, it provides an immediate calming and analgesic effect after its application.
Ice is recommended for the first 72 hours after acute trauma. As you can imagine, this is contraindicated if you have a wound or bleeding.
compression and elevation
Both functional bandage compression and putting on the injured extremity have the ability to improve venous return and reduce edema that can occur after acute injury. These are two key elements to reduce inflation.
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It is very important that you know these protocols if you play sports as they will decrease your reaction time in case of injury. Always remember to attend a health center to receive personalized attention about your injury to ensure a proper and speedy recovery.
