I once was struck on the forearm. The whole forearm swelled. I began to suffer anoxia - lack of adequate blood flow to the area. Any attempt to use the muscles for more than a few seconds resulted in excruciating pain to the point of blacking out if I bumped the arm, and lack of ability to sleep - even the doctor was unhelpful.

I immersed the whole forearm in ice water till it was completely numb - this eased the pain. I let it warm back to feeling again and repeated this cycle a few times - basically till I could not cope with the 'going to sleep and waking up again' of the nerve sensations.

This caused the swellng to abate - later discussions with those more experienced revealed that there must have been some obstruction to a vein that prevented the normal blood drainage from the limb - this meant that anoxia - lack of sufficent oxygen reaching the tissues - the pain was the cells complaining that they were 'dying'... :-)

The cold cycle caused something useful to happen to heal the problem - the cold can reduce swelling - and the reduction of swelling means that normal blood flow can occur. Once normal blood flow occurred as the arm warmed up, whatever the obstruction wsa to the blood flow was relieved.

Trust me this method DOES work - footballers etc do it all the time - but the complete numbing and rewarming process IS 'difficult to tolerate'.... :-)

When I did my AZSMF Sport Trainer course, I found out why it works... :-) or at least that it DOES so often that it is highly recommended if the swelling stays up for more than a day - some Aussie footballers made it into the media by sleeping on ice packs - thighs are difficult to get totally numb because that have massive noirmal blood flow and deep veins.


Robin