Icing

[Armin]

Hi Ann,

In your classes, you have mentioned about the negative effects of icing for any kind of acute pain/inflammation, which makes perfect sense in terms of our medicine. What topical recommendation do we actually make in case of throbbing inflammation? Sometimes patients say the only thing that soothes the pain is cooling the area with an ice pack which then let’s them sleep or feel more comfortable.

I tend to recommend Arnica ointment or gel if it’s red and inflamed and things ling tiger balm if swollen but not red.

Thank you.

[Ann Cecil-Sterman]

Hi Armin,

We should make ice a subject of a chat. What a doozy it is! Patients report relief while using ice simply because it slows the qi down and compresses wei qi at the injury site. But those two factors are the problem going forward. In order to heal, wei qi must move. So the treatments are always about moving qi, not slowing it down. You could use a ditdat liniment which is warming or a sinew treatment to clear the throbbing inflammation that is caused when ice has trapped the natural healing heat of moving wei qi. I hope you’re well, Armin.

xAnn

[Armin]

Thank you Ann!

[Burton Moomaw]

Armin, several years ago I had a case that reinforced the effect of ice on injuries. A 75 yoa male began having recurrent ankle swelling. When I inquired about past injuries he mentioned several sprained ankle events from sports when he was in high school and college. He confirmed that ice had been the mainstay of his treatments. He was not very patient with acupuncture so when a couple of treatments didn’t magically cure it he moved forward with surgery. What they found in the surgery was a sack filled with red jello, congealed blood, that had likely been there for decades, material evidence about the theory of icing. Ice drives Wei from the injury site into the bone causing arthritis development, inflammatory fluids are gelled as a cold-damp dam, the pain is diminished so they can continue playing as hard as possible and injure it further. I am convinced that long-term problems with sprains and strains are the result of ice.

This case was prior to my learning Luo concepts, but bleeding this old injury would likely have helped immediately. Then adding lots of moxa. Whenever I see blood in a sprain now the first thing I do is bleed and cup it. Remove the blood stagnation, qi and blood move, and the healing rate is nothing short of phenomenal. If there is no blood then sinew channels are the treatment of choice for both acute and old injuries.

There is an excellent resource on current research on ice. http://stoneathleticmedicine.com/?s=ice%2C+mechano This is a PT who is looking at all the current research on ice which shows that ice impedes the healing process. Modified loading and massage are the things that support healing. Also Tom Bisios book A Tooth From the Tigers Mouth has an article entitled Ice is for Dead People. I give copies of this and one of the Stone articles to my patients and tell them to pass them on to their PTs, Orthos, and Chiropractors.

To address your original question about a liniment, there is a formula in Bisios book for herbal ice for early stages, then a warming liniment for post-acute phase. I have found that one properly done acupuncture treatment can obviate the need for topical applications.

[Armin]

Hi Burton,

Thanks so much for sharing your insights and the link. Very helpful indeed.

I, too, have found that an early acupuncture intervention reduces the need for much topical application.

Cheers.

[MG McCullough]

Hello, Burton, & wow! That is an incredible example!

Not a liniment, but Golden Flower Chinese Herbs makes Trauma Formulas (1, 2, and I believe, 3), and I’ve found them to be helpful.

[Author]

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