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In a preclinical study published in the journal Anesthesiology, a research team from McGill University reports that even when it relieved pain in the short term, cryotherapy (ice application) risked doubling recovery time or more.
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"These findings highlight a paradox: treatments that reduce inflammation and relieve pain in the short term may, in some cases, hinder the biological processes necessary for full recovery," says Lucas Lima, lead author and research associate at the Alan Edwards Center for Research on Pain.
"These results add to a growing body of studies that question the long-term benefits of common anti-inflammatory strategies," he continues. Previous studies have shown that certain medications, such as acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), could also prolong pain, and animal research has indicated that ice application may delay tissue repair.
This new study shows for the first time, with supporting evidence, that ice application could also affect pain duration, based on experiments reproducing inflammatory and exercise-related injuries in mice.
Ice is commonly used as part of the RICE protocol (Rest, Ice, Elevation, Compression), a standard approach for managing injuries. This technique is widely used to treat injuries, especially by athletes and healthcare professionals, but according to the research team, evidence of its long-term benefits is limited.
"Our findings indicate that we should better assess which cases anti-inflammatory strategies are useful and which cases they are not," says lead author Jeffrey Mogil, Distinguished James-McGill Professor and holder of the E.P. Taylor Chair in Pain Studies.
He emphasizes that these results are not yet directly transferable to humans. A clinical trial is currently underway to determine whether the same effect is observed in patients recovering from certain procedures, such as wisdom tooth extraction.