The application of ice to an injured muscles is a common first aid solution, but what influence does this have exactly on the regeneration of muscles and does it actually help? A study shows that the application of ice can depend on the extent of the injury.
Two: 10.1152/AJPreGU.00258.2022
Rice (calm, ice cream, compression and height) is a popular method for treating the acute phase of sports injury.
Then various steps can be followed to treat the injury later. However, there are not many indications of the advantages of I -icing and opinions differ whether or not the icing should be applied or not.
The researchers have carried out several studies to examine the effectiveness of the icing. However, no previous animal studies have pointed out that muscle regeneration is promoted by icing.
For this study, they focused on changing the severity of the muscle injury in the tests. The reasons for this were that most muscle injuries are limited in connection with sports. For example, less than 10% of the total number of muscle fibers known as myofibers are necrotized and damaged.
However, all previous animal studies have viewed serious injuries in which more than 20% of the myofibers had been damaged.
Therefore, the researchers created a slightly injured muscle animal model and tested the use of ice for injuries that have used a similar method as before.
An injury that affects 20% of total muscle fibers was induced in their previous studies. They induced an injury that affects 4% of the fibers for the current study. This is a similar degree of injuries that often take place after sporting activities, including long sticks or powerful movement.
The icing was carried out by applying polyethylene ice bag on the skin surface for three daily 30-minute sessions at a distance of 90 minutes. This was continued up to 2 days after an injury of 9 icing sessions (ie 3 sessions immediately after an injury, 3 sessions one day after an injury and 3 sessions two days after an injury). The method of icing was identical to what was used in the previous study.
Significant variations between the icing group and the non-enibution group were observed in regeneration of the fiber size in muscle cross-sections, which regenerated 2 weeks after an injury. This means that the icing may promote regeneration of the skeletal muscle.
Macrophages are immune cells that repair the injured of the muscle. In the area that was damaged shortly after an injury, there is a accumulation of pro -inflammatory macrophages. However, they express nitrogen oxide synthase, which has a harmful side effect to increase the size of the injury.
The results showed that the accumulation of nitrogen oxide synthase-expressed pro-inflammatory macrophages after mild muscle injury is reduced by icing. By creating this phenomenon, icing helps prevent the size of the muscle injury.
This means that the pro -inflammatory recruitment of macrophages in the injury area is weakened by icing. This was also observed in her previous study, which shows that this is an impact based on the icing, regardless of whether it is a mild or serious muscle injury.
In the previous study, it was found that muscle regeneration delayed after a serious injury, which destroyed numerous fibers because the anti -inflammatory macrophages were not able to adequately remove the injured muscle).
In comparison, the current study shows that the icing has a positive impact on mild muscle injuries, since it prevents the secondary expansion of the muscle injury induced by the inflammatory macrophages. It indicates that this specific effect of icing is associated with the promotion of muscle regeneration.
This study has shown that muscle regeneration in the treatment of slightly injured muscles can be promoted with icing.
However, this does not mean that the icing is an effective treatment for all types or degrees of muscle injuries. For example, the researcher’s former study showed that the icing inhibited muscle regeneration in serious muscle injuries.