Icing after surgery might work against recovery

[jasejuk]

I'm three days out from the op and wondered why the doctors kind of ignored me talking about ice.

Anyway. I started ice packs and while I felt relief -- the discomfort came back stronger after.

After a little googling I came across a lot of guidance on websites that icing can prevent healing especially after the first 2 days.

A good pub med source you can read here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8173427/

I have stopped icing now.

You'll still find some sites still promoting it but as many specialists did not even mention it at UCLH London and seeing these new reports, I'm not doing it.

It seems the prevention of blood flow from ice does not help the healing process. Maybe we are just supposed to swell up.

Painkillers are doing me fine and a little walking about. Then there is time (patience)

[Stayingstrong]

Ice, ice, ice the first two days post-op, then heat from there on.
Dr. Eid's protocol.

[jasejuk]

Ice, ice, ice the first two days post-op, then heat from there on.
Dr. Eid's protocol.

That sounds more like the right advice.

[Alex258]

I'll tell you whats really helpful with pain after ice. Fill a long sock 3'4ths with uncooked rice, nuke it then place it where it hurts. My recovery sucked 11 days of severe pain. Ice n sock was such a relief.