Rest, ice, compression, elevation (R.I.C.E.) is the long-accepted treatment for soft-tissue trauma and overuse injury. CBAN progression is one of the major drawbacks of cold (ice) therapy. CBAN describes the four sensory stages of typical cold therapy:
- Cold
- Burning
- Aching
- Numbness
In an article written for FootNotes, nationally certified sports message therapist Laurel J. Freeman describes CBAN progression:
Four Stages in Ice Therapy
There are four official stages to ice. The first stage is cold, the second is burning/pricking, the third stage is, aching, which can sometimes hurt worse than the pain. The fourth and most important stage is numbness. As soon as this stage is achieved, remove the ice. Time duration depends upon body weight. Twenty to thirty minutes should be the maximum time per area. If it is necessary to reapply ice, let the skin go to normal temperature or go back to the third stage of aching.
FootNotes; Summer 1995, Page 22
Let’s summarize what CBAN means for you
Cold: That doesn’t sound so bad, at least initially.
Burning: Wait a minute. Cold therapy is supposed to reduce pain. This isn’t good.
Aching: ..."may hurt worse than the pain." Seriously? So when does feeling better start?
Numbness: Finally, it all goes numb. But wait! Just when the pain stops, you are told to remove the ice and go back to the aching stage.
It’s easy to see why many people, especially younger athletes, don’t “tough out” classic R.I.C.E. therapy. I have watched many high school and club athletes endure ice therapy for 10-15 minutes, rip the ice bag off and leave it in a pile. In reality, the painful CBAN stages discourage patients from crucial immediate therapy. Follow-up home compliance is even worse. So why does all this pain occur? Quite simply, ice is just too cold for human skin.
This is where Frog-Skin™ materials shine. Our coldest product, Frog-Skin™ 41F, keeps skin a mere nine degree warmer than ice. This slight increase in temperature makes a huge difference. While the cold sensation is nearly instant, the controlled skin temperature avoids all the painful phases that follow. It is cold enough for therapy and to reduce pain, but avoidst burning, aching or numbness. In fact feeling is retained during the therapy. One of the extra benefits is that the cold sensation persists even after the product is removed. We call this the “Frog-Skin™ effect.” There is no other product that creates this sensation.
This is no accident. Frog-Skin™ is an engineered, high performance thermal composite material. We designed it this way. Along with its inherent soft feel and wide compression range, it was designed to bring comfort when you are hurting. Let’s face it, you are already hurting. You want a treatment that promotes healing AND makes you feel better.
Frog-Skin™ delivers the therapy, reduces pain, and finishes with a cool sensation that lasts after the therapy session is over.
Use Frog-Skin™ prior to ice. Skip the CBAN drama and Leap Back Into the Game!
For the complete FootNotes article by Laurel Freeman, see:
http://www.rnrmassagetherapy.com/articles/ice_therapy.pdf
For Laurel’s website, see: