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It's HELM now: Heat, Exercise, Lower, and Massage. They're all designed to maximize blood flow to, and inflammation in, the injured area. (Note that exercise just means to keep it moving.) Ice and elevation restrict the flow of fluids in and out of the injured area; ice especially slows down recovery and is only recommended for pain management.

(This is basically a simplified version of the protocol NFL teams have been using.)




I did this after breaking my ankle. I was carefully walking the next day, hiking within a week, and skateboarding within 2-3 weeks. Fully healed after a month or two. Everyone thought I was insane but I'm very glad I did it.

I thought, why should we try to intervene with millions of years of evolution? Inflammation has to be there for a reason. Nitpick that statement all you want but in this specific case I'm glad I didn't mitigate the inflammation.

I was unaware of the acronym HELM and told everyone I was doing the exact opposite of RICE on purpose.


I love how this is basically the complete opposite of the old protocol lmfao.

Makes sense to me, though :D




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