Should you reduce inflammation?

I told a patient to use ice to reduce inflammation and she was hesitant to do so. She brought up an interesting concept. This patient felt that if inflammation was a natural response to an injury, wouldn’t it make sense to let it happen? Doesn’t reducing inflammation prevent proper healing?

To some degree she has a point. If the inflammation is tolerable meaning that you can tolerate the pain, it may be worthwhile to allow the natural process to happen. Inflammation is how the body initially handles an injury.

However in many cases inflammation becomes excessive. This happens for a number of reasons. Firstly many foods we eat are fuel to the fire of inflammation. Go to the zone diet website to learn more. Food allows our body to produce more inflammatory hormones that cause an excessive amount of inflammation.

Using ice doesn’t eliminate inflammation, it reduces it.

Lastly, people come to a doctor to reduce their pain. Ice works good for that. While it may be temporary, so is every drug you take. Ice doesn’t destroy your liver and kidneys. It’s much safer.

Clinical experience has shown that patients with new injuries have increased pain when applying heat. Ice has shown to help the pain.