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"What wound did ever heal but by degrees?" (William Shakespeare)
Acute Injury Care:
Please note that this is general advice, not 1st aid, and not specific to every case for every acute injury; but it should help point the way until your appointment.
Please note that acute means very recent, it does not comment severity.
The best, and most important piece of general advice is RICE’M not HAARM.
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation
Mobility
NOT
Heat
Alcohol
Anti-inflammatories
Running
Massage
Rest – Application of common sense, NOT BED REST, basically, avoid aggravating factors, surprisingly enough, they’ll make it worse. Use comparative rest until fully healed, start challenging yourself gradually once able; see how you respond the next day.
Ice – Real ice (preferably ice packs of gel, available here) is better than fake stuff from gels and sprays; but often less convenient, use real if you can. Always wrap real ice in a thin layer of dry material (and using dry ice), this prevents you getting an ice burn. For the first day or so use it in bursts of <5 minutes, repeating every 20-30 minutes. After that, use bursts of 10-15 minutes, repeating every 60-90 minutes. (For more details, click here).
Compression – Has a dual effect, it minimizes excessive oedema, by not allowing it room to expand, and provides an element of support to a joint, allowing the ligaments more rest; DO NOT OVERUSE THIS, don’t wear strapping for more than a few days (unless it’s bandaging for an open wound, or a broken bone, obviously).
Elevation – Helps drain oedema, blood and lymph from the area, basically, try to keep the injured area higher than the heart so it can drain – obviously, easier with limbs than torso injuries; don’t use for more than a day or so.
Mobility – Keep it moving. Movement is essential (especially in joints) to allow full perfusion of oxygen and nutrients (and white blood cells and serum); it’ll also help to prevent additional cramping, and allow the joint to actively heal itself, and minimise scar formation later.
NOT:
Heat – Fine to use after the first day or so, but even then, only for muscular injuries, not joints. In the first day or so, it will increase blood flow, and bleeding/haematoma. (For more details, click here).
Alcohol – Thins the blood (allowing more bleeding/haematoma) at the same time as actively inhibiting organisation of clot formation (not enough clot early on, and too large a clot later, which will need to be reabsorbed, or can break off).
Anti-inflammatories – This may seem counter-intuitive and controversial, and may be generally unknown by GPs and pharmacists (and some physio.s etc) because almost all medical research, AND PROMOTION of research is carried out by the drug companies. (For more information, click here).
Running – Just an example of non-restful things that may aggravate the problem; far from the only example.
Massage – Again, will aggravate the problem in the early stages of an injury – fine if it’s just muscle soreness though.