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220 The acronym PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation) has been central to acute soft tissue injury management for many years despite a paucity of high-quality, empirical evidence to support the various components or as a collective treatment package. Treatment paradigms in sports medicine must be updated based on contemporary research evidence. As a recent example, the widespread use of non-steroidal antiinfl ammatory drugs in acute soft tissue injury management has been challenged, particularly with ligament and muscle injuries. 1 Ice compression and elevation (ICE) is the basic principle of early treatment. Most research has focused on the analgesic effect of icing or the associated skin or intramuscular temperature changes; a recent randomised controlled trial by Prins and colleagues, 2 which examined the effectiveness of ice on recovery from acute muscle tear, is the fi rst of its kind. Clinical studies into compression are also lacking, and much of its rationale is extrapolated from research relating to deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis and lymphoedema management; there is little clinical research on elevation. 3
Bleakley et al. (2011) studied this question.