Take a pass on the Advil

[Shwa]

Interesting article from the Globe about the benefits of swelling in athletes and can be applied to most injuries.

Take a pass on the Advil – swelling may help you heal

Every weekend athlete knows the RICE rule for dealing with minor sprains and strains: rest, ice, compression and elevation, with the latter three tactics aimed at minimizing inflammation.

But a study published last month by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic adds to growing evidence that swelling actually plays a key role in healing soft-tissue injuries. The result is a classic tradeoff between short-term and long-term benefits: reducing swelling with ice or anti-inflammatory drugs may ease your pain now, but slow down your ultimate return to full strength.

[bill_barilko]

BFD-most people aren't athletes and Ibuprofen is a godsend to them.

[bloodyminded]

BFD-most people aren't athletes and Ibuprofen is a godsend to them.

Sure...I'm not an athlete (or we could say: a poor one); and ibuprofen makes my sciatica bearable.

But I believe this is about minor swelling due to minor injury. From an athlete's point of view, that is, it might be beneficial to them--athletically--to sometimes avoid it.

Edited November 24, 2010 by bloodyminded

[Bonam]

Hmm, this is a discovery? Thought it was common knowledge that swelling is part of the healing process.

[Pliny]

Hmm, this is a discovery? Thought it was common knowledge that swelling is part of the healing process.

I think the article is an attack on pharmaceutical companies. It seems to be minimizing the important role of painkillers.

[Bonam]

I think the article is an attack on pharmaceutical companies. It seems to be minimizing the important role of painkillers.

Not really. There are painkillers that do not reduce swelling, as mentioned in the article. Personally the only one I ever use is Tylenol. It works far more effectively for me than Advil in terms of getting rid of pain.

[msj]

My reading of the article, from a long distance running point of view, is that if you are doing one of your training runs (say a 32k at race pace minus 30 seconds) then you would suck it up and pass on the ibuprofen (which is more suitable for runners).

Now, after you have just run your guts out on a 42.2 km marathon, then, yes, take the ibuprofen.

The difference being that for training you are trying to adapt so you need to the normal swelling process whereas, after completing the event, you can give in to some pain relief since you are going to take a week off before training for the next race.

One does not need to be an "athlete" to appreciate this type of advice.