×

Questions about ice

To the Editor,

“Iced: The Illusionary Treatment Option” … Gary Reinl’s book is about one of the most-talked about subjects in sports today. Does icing an injury help the healing process, or actually slow it down? The book set my head spinning several years ago when it first came out. I have written a notebook and a half of information in a John Baio journal. With football coming up, it seems like a good time to review what’s new.

I grew up watching Sandy Koufax, the Hall of Fame Dodgers great, put his elbow in a bucket of ice after pitching almost every game. Based on Reinl’s book, which cites such sources as the Cleveland Clinic, the injury was being prevented from healing because the blood is slowed from reaching the affected area … wow.

I was at a boxing event and watched several trainers using ice in a number of ways. One very limited study shows icing between innings during a baseball game increased the delivery speed of the pitcher. So, not using ice goes against what almost everyone learned growing up.

Martin Luther King Jr. said something like you take the first step up the staircase even if you cannot see the top as we called to tomorrow. The community coach who lacks a formal degree from a college and is doing some athletic training might find the Reinl book new ground and worth a read.

If icing is wrong, then I will push and educate those involved in sports to update the playbook. Those who say the old ways are the best ways only show they lack formal education in the sciences taught in classrooms and learned in books. To ice or not to ice … only Vanilla Ice could say it: “Ice, ice baby.”

Michael Traubert

Wellsburg

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today