Elevation of the injured area above the level of your heart will help to maximise the fluid drainage away from the injury. Keep the injured area (leg/arm) comfortable and supported with pillows or a stool whilst doing this to help the area relax.
Elevation. Elevate the injured or sore area on pillows while applying ice and anytime you are sitting or lying down. Try to keep the area at or above the level of your heart to help minimize swelling. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may also help relieve your pain and swelling.
Elevation of the injured part lowers the pressure in local blood vessels and helps to limit the bleeding. It also increases drainage of the inflammatory exudate through the lymph vessels, reducing and limiting edema and its resultant complications.
If a limb is injured, raise the injured area above the level of the person's heart (if possible). Get the person to apply direct pressure to the wound with their hand or hands to stem the blood flow. If the person can't do it, apply direct pressure yourself.
E: Elevation is recommended to help reduce the pooling of fluid in the injured extremity or joint. Controlling swelling can help decrease pain and may limit the loss of range of motion, possibly speeding up recovery time. Elevation is accomplished by positioning the injured area above the level of the heart.
"E" is for Elevation
For both upper and lower limb injuries, it is equally important to keep the limb elevated to minimize swelling. Elevation to the level of the heart or above allows for excess fluid to be pumped back into the blood vessel system and will help prevent further swelling from occurring.
Elevating your injury for long periods of time can be especially risky if you have certain heart conditions or blood pressure issues. This is mainly because elevating your injury can lower your blood pressure and decrease the rate of blood flow throughout your body.
Wrap the bandage tightly enough to support the area, without cutting off blood flow. Elevation reduces swelling and bruising by making it more difficult for blood to reach the injury. Experts say it is best to elevate the area for 2–3 hours a day.
RICE (especially the ice) reduces swelling and promotes circulation of the blood to the injury site.
Elevating the area to take the weight or pressure away from the injury may benefit in the early days of injury in reducing the nociceptive (pain) messages from the area and reducing the activity of the inflammatory (swelling) process.
In fact, it helps drain the excess fluid from the site of your injury, and this may reduce pain and speed up healing. In order to get the best results from elevation, you should raise the limb above the level of your heart. If you can't, you'll want to raise it so that it's as high as possible.
Don't elevate your legs on a table or desk without a cushion to prevent the edges and corners from digging into your skin. This can cause leg pain, bruising, spider veins, and nerve damage to the area. It's also counterproductive, as it hurts circulation to the area due to excessive pressure.
THE MYTH: Any time you sustain an injury or have pain in an area, the old acronym R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) will help the healing process and get you back in the game as quickly as possible. THE REALITY: R.I.C.E. is an antiquated methodology that often does more harm than good.
Jim and Phil Wharton in The Wharton's Stretch Book (4). They suggested the acronym MICE to replace RICE, where Rest is replaced with Movement. The Whartons advocated that once fracture or catastrophic injury is excluded: movement is best, not rest, to treat an injury.
Although inflammation will help heal your injuries naturally, you will still need to reduce swelling or pain as too much swelling may slow down the entire healing process. Untreated inflammation can also result in more swelling and pain. Here are several treatment methods you may wish to adopt: Rest.
The acronym H.A.R.M outlines the key things you should NOT do after an injury in order to maximise healing and recovery. This stands for applying heat, drinking alcohol, running or massage.
Orthopedic trauma surgeon Dr. Blake Turvey emphasizes that true elevation is when the injured bone or joint is above the level of the heart. “Gentle wiggling of the finger and toes can also help with circulation, which in turn may help decrease some swelling,” he said.
The body always responds to an injury with a predictable inflammatory response, as the first step towards healing. Redness, heat, swelling and pain are associated with this first stage.
Each individual's pain and soreness vary, but how long should you expect the soreness to persist? Minor pain and soreness are typically short-lived, usually subsiding in one week or less with rest and proper over-the-counter pain and anti-inflammatory medications, and heat, ice, massage, and stretching, if necessary.
COMPRESSION STOPS BLOOD FLOW
Without fresh oxygen and nutrients that come with fresh blood, healing simply can't occur. Think about it: You'd never compress a person with diabetes with circulation problems.
The problem with using ice as a vasoconstrictor is that, while it limits blood supply and therefore reduces swelling, it also limits arrival of immune cells and thus interferes with core parts of healing.
After the First 48 Hours. It is generally not recommended to ice an acute or recent injury after the first 48 hours.
We have to keep in mind that anything that reduces inflammation also delays healing since the process of inflammation is an essential aspect of recovery itself. Although cold therapy typically slows the soft tissue swelling to some extent, it does not hasten the recovery process.
For those of us that move around a lot in our sleep, have to sleep on a slight incline, or share the bed with a heavier partner, having one leg bent up can act as an anchor to help with weight distribution and stop us from migrating around the bed.