Mankind has been using ice to reduce swelling and preserve food for thousands of year, even before the exact cause of the swelling was known. If you’ve ever sprained an ankle or injured yourself in any way then you have probably been told to ice it as soon as possible. Any injury to soft bodily tissue should be iced periodically for 48-72 hours after the injury to prevent swelling and scar tissue form accumulating. Although you may not be in excruciating pain, icing the injury has little to do with pain tolerance and more to do with the need to reduce swelling, bleeding and even muscle spasms in the area. Cold temperatures also drastically improve the healing time of a soft tissue sports injury.

There are various ways to apply cold therapy to your sports injuries, most of which are detailed below. Cold wraps are basically packs of gel that are stored in the freezer and then applied to the injured area when needed. The wrap is lined in linen to prevent the cold from stinging to badly and causing cold shock. Cold packs are similar to wraps, except they can be refrozen more easily and they are much colder (so much so that they cannot be applied directly to the wound without causing cold burns). Instant cold packs are filled with liquid and the inner pouches contain chemicals that instantly freeze the liquid when cracked. Instant cold packs are often kept on the sideline of sports games because they do not need to be frozen beforehand.