Ice can be very effective as a treatment, especially when applied immediately after an injury, Ice permits your body to heal quickly in two ways.  It promotes seven greater blood circulation than heat, and it numbs the pain so that you can move the injured area.  The latter is beneficial because the best healing takes place when you actively move you injured part.  Movement allows the new forming tissue to remain pliable and healthy while keeping abnomal scar tissue from forming.

          In order to benefit from ice, you must use it correctly.  Chill the injured area for bout six to twenty minutes, or until it gets numb. Then begin to move it.  Start with small movements and gradually increase your range of motion.  (Remember to move gently, since the tissue is numb you cannot feel it if you over-extend the area.)  When the numbness wears off, apply the ice and repeat the entire process.

          “It is the movement part of the ice therapy that makes it so effective.  Athletic trainers who might have been out for the season can return to the field within one or two weeks after injury”