Strip off
tie and grab your running shoes, golf clubs or baseball mitt! The weekend has arrived. You look forward to extra time on Saturday and Sunday to enjoy your favorite sport. And you probably cram in as much activity as possible before Monday morning rolls around. You’re a weekend warrior! If you find yourself nursing a painful knee or strained muscle at
office, you are in
company of gladiators.
Favored gladiators were considered
sports heroes of their day. If a gladiator survived serious injury, they were attended to by sports physicians for common problems such as sprains, torn ligaments and muscle strains. The first doctor to gain notoriety for treating gladiators was Galen, acclaimed as
father of sports medicine. Living from 129 to 199 BC, Galen traveled throughout Rome bandaging-up gladiators. Although Galen used a form of traction to set bones and was considered way ahead of his time, he was not aware of
simple principle of R.I.C.E. (rest-ice-compression-elevation) to treat sports-related injuries.
Today, it’s easy for weekend warriors to take care of minor sprains and strains using
recommended technique of R.I.C.E. According to
Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, “more than 10 million sports injuries are treated each year in
USA. Athletes and non-athletes share many similar injuries…Immediate treatment for almost all acute athletic injuries is R.I.C.E.”
Here is
four-part method for using R.I.C.E.: