Aug 13, 2024Increasing blood flow when treating injured athletes
In seeking the best outcome for their clients, athletic trainers use a variety of modalities aimed at facilitating recovery and providing the greatest opportunity for a successful return to sport. Advanced technology and understanding of the drivers of healing and performance have opened new frontiers, with some of the best athletes in the world now playing at the highest level within days of what would previously have been a career-ending injury.
Since 1978, when Dr. Mirkin invented the Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate (R.I.C.E.) method to manage injuries, R.I.C.E. has been the standard of care and is a universal approach throughout sport and medical communities. Mirkin has since redacted the manuscript, admitted the entire concept was made up before they completed medical school, and is a vocal advocate against R.I.C.E. and provides evidence-based approaches to facilitate and improve healing.
A growing body of evidence demonstrates the poor efficacy and even detrimental outcomes of using this methodology. An overwhelming lack of clear evidence in support of the R.I.C.E. approach has steered leading physicians, athletic trainers, and entire hospital systems away from the method in favor of approaches that are shown to support healing and improve outcomes.
Circulation Is The Key
Most important among these is the almost universal benefit that comes from increasing circulation. Why is increased circulation important? A closer look at the inflammatory response to injury reveals both the importance of a mediated inflammatory response as well as the importance of avoiding the chronic inflammatory states that often follow.
When tissue damage or injury occurs, a host of inflammatory markers and immune modulators are recruited to the area, delivered by the bloodstream, and released by the tissue. Subsequent cascades resulting from cellular metabolites, cytokines, and increased genetic expression of immune regulators amplify the inflammatory response. This process continues in a positive feedback loop signaling more inflammation, ultimately resulting in swelling, pain from the release of inflammatory pain signals including prostaglandins, and eventual tissue damage.
One of the most essential functions of the endogenous immune response to injury is to increase blood flow to the affected area. The importance of circulation cannot be overstated. Increased circulation of blood and lymphatic fluid increases the availability of oxygen, nutrients, immuno-modulatory molecules, and repair enzymes, all while removing metabolic waste products as well as byproducts of tissue damage and regeneration.
Delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells promotes cellular function, energy production by mitochondria and new cell generation, protein synthesis, and eventual tissue repair.
Circulation can increase eightfold through exercise, and up to tenfold in trained athletes, as cardiac output delivers oxygen to working skeletal muscle bumps up from about 5 g/L to 40 g/L or higher.
Score One For Advanced Technology
The introduction of 24/7 wearable sleeves and braces that increase circulation during activity and at rest represents a true advancement in passive treatment protocols. The patented technology delivers mid and far-infrared waves to the tissue from the activation of semiconductor elements woven into the fabric. In recent years these sleeves and braces have become standard of practice for athletic trainers as well as orthopedic surgeons, regenerative medicine, and pain management physicians.
The technology is shown to increase circulation by up to 22% in 20 minutes compared to placebo garments. When worn after total knee arthroplasty, the swelling was reduced by 54% compared to the standard of care medical compression stockings, TEDHose. The sleeves improve function and reduce pain in the knee by 63% for osteoarthritis patients. In professional athletes using the sleeves throughout a season — during practices, events, and for recovery — muscle injuries were reduced by 78%, and the time the players were sidelined from injury was half compared to seasons without the sleeves.
Research indicates that 56% of clients who work with athletic trainers earn under 74K annually — which speaks to the need for accessibility and affordability in treatment options. The most common injuries treated are soft tissue (sprains, strains, and tears), and athletes who play football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and ice hockey rank among the most frequent clientele.
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The need for a mediated inflammatory response to reduce swelling and pain, and support of homeostatic balance within injured tissue is ubiquitous across injury types and athletes of all sports. The biologically active infrared waves that wearable technology provides are unique in the sports medicine arena. The sleeves and braces dramatically improve circulation and never stop delivering therapeutic benefits to the athlete as long as it is worn touching the skin.
It’s also important to note that when worn overnight, the sleeves enhance the well-known benefits of overnight recovery when blood pressure reduces, endocrine patterns shift, glycogen is replenished, and cortisol and inflammatory cytokines are regulated. As such, this technology has become an indispensable tool to improve recovery and prevent injury through increased circulation.
Gina Myers is a biomedical engineer, ultramarathon runner, Ironman triathlete, trained chef, and Director of Research at Incrediwear®.
