If you’ve just injured a muscle, tendon or ligament, you’ll be keen to know what you can do to help.

Of course, you should always get a proper medical diagnosis and support, e.g., go to A&E, call 111, or see your GP/physio. But good self-care, right from second one, is also key for your best recovery.

You might have heard of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) or POLICE (Protection, Optimal Loading, …). But science has recently given us a better understanding of how what we do in the early days of a new, soft-tissue injury affects long-term healing. This means the advice has changed. Instead:
 

Days 1-3: Give yourself some PEACE.

 

P rotect

To prevent further damage, restrict movement and take the load off it. Let pain guide what you can do: Resting for too long can affect tissue recovery.  

E levate

Raise the limb higher than the heart. This helps healing, body fluids flow.  

A void Anti-Inflammatories

Inflammation is an important stage of early healing. Anti-inflammatory meds (particularly high doses) reduces this. Likewise, ice. Although possibly good for relieving pain, no high-quality evidence supports using ice, whilst it might disrupt effective repair.  

C ompression

Taping or bandaging might help.  

E ducation

Take an active recovery approach: Don’t rely on treatments that others do to (often magically) ‘fix’ you. Learn about: the injury, how to increase load and movement safely, and recovery expectations and time-lines. My other blogs on pain and the psychosocial ways to improve recovery will also help.  
 

Thereafter: LOVE!

 

L oad

As symptoms let you, movement and exercise that doesn’t make pain worse helps repair.

O ptimism

Expect to recover. Be confident you can cope. Stay positive. Focus on what you can do to help. These all predict good recovery. Yes, better than any other medical / physical factor!

V ascularistion

Pain-free, aerobic exercise improves; healing blood flow, function, and return to life activities.

E xercise

Rehab exercises to improve strength and flexibility: Again, with pain as your guide.
 
Of course, every injury and it’s time-frames are different. So, ask your medic/physio how you can use PEACE and LOVE to recover better.

Reference and for more detail, go to…
Dubois, B., & Esculier, J.F., (2020), Soft-tissue injuries simply need PEACE and LOVE, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54, 2.

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