Sustaining an acute injury, such as a torn calf or sprained your ankle, can be painful and debilitating. Start your rehab off right with some Peace & Love before searching for a “physiotherapist near me”. Anlo van Deventer discusses exactly what Peace & Love means.
PEACE & LOVE
Previously when we injure ourselves, most health professionals will mention the “RICE” acronym. The idea is that we should rest, ice, compress and elevate. Although seemingly logical, this acronym has become outdated as it doesn’t really provide support past the acute stage of injury. So, in order to pay respect to both the initial pain of an injury and slightly longer-term management, a new acronym has been formed:
Acute injuries need to PEACE!!
P: PROTECT
- Like most common aches and sprains, we reduce our activity and allow healing to happen. Generally, only for 1-3 days as too much rest can have the opposite effect. Pain can be an important guide here as to whether you’re ready to start gradually increasing your activity again.
E: ELEVATE
- As previously indicated in “RICE”, elevate the injured limb. Ideally higher than the level of your heart to allow drainage of fluid from the injured area.
A: AVOID Anti-Inflammatories
- There is a misconception that inflammation or swelling is bad for you and taking pills is going to help settle this down. Inflammation is a part of the body’s natural ability to heal so taking anti-inflammatories may impact this natural process. Anti-inflammatories are okay to start taking after 2-3 days.
C: COMPRESS
- Similar to what most people already know but using either compression bandages or tape can help with excessive bleeding in the tissues and improve pain.
E: EDUCATE
- This is time when your physio will be educating you on where to from here. Most commonly, activity is the next step in improving function and is really beneficial in the healing process. Your physio should educate you on your injury and the benefits of loading it the area. Sure – hands on work can be beneficial in the right circumstances but early on, modified activity should be implemented.
After three days have passed, soft tissues need LOVE!!
L: LOAD
- Loading an injury is ultimately what will allow you to heal but also gain confidence to become active again. Using pain as a guide and not over-training is important.
O: OPTIMISM
- As cheesey as it sounds, your mind set and beliefs around your injury and pain play a huge role in healing. Negative thoughts or ideals around this can cause prolonged pain and healing times.
V: VASCULARISATION
- We want to start some cardiovascular activity a few days after your injury. This allows increased blood flow to the injured area and cardiovascular exercise has shown to improve pain and function.
E: EXERCISE
- Exercise is one of the best ways to improve mobility, strength and pain after injury. Use pain to guide you through how much to load the injured area. For example, 0-3/10 pain is acceptable, 4-6/10 is starting to overload the area too much so you will need to ease off and 7-10/10 means you have overloaded the tissues and need to stop.
Peace & Love is similar to original beliefs, but this new paradigm will aid in faster healing and more effective movement post injury. If you have suffered an acute injury and need advice or management, book an appointment today with our highly experienced physiotherapists near me at Cairnhill Physiotherapy.