Peace & Love
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Why are Osteos are talking about peace & love? Are we encouraging you to return to the free love era of the 70’s? No, we’re not in charge of that part your life!
Peace & love, or more accurately in this case PEACE & LOVE, is an acronym for acute injury rehabilitation. It replaces the old ‘RICE’ or ‘RICER’ acronym to give a more detailed and holistic overview of the care needed after you or someone around you injures themselves.
So what was the old acronym? And why is it being replaced?
RICE/R - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate, Refer.
It was made as a simple acronym to inform acute injury recovery (think sudden injuries that might result in bruises, bone fractures, muscle strain or ligament sprains). And while this acronym is great for catering to acute injury healing, it fails to cater for other types of injuries, like sub-acute or chronic injuries. This new acronym more fully addresses how to manage any soft tissue injuries and ensure the best healing.
Into what PEACE & LOVE actually refers to:
Protect - avoid aggravating activities in the first few days after injury
Elevate - lift the affected limb higher than your heart
Avoid anti-inflammatories - as this delays tissue healing
Compress - temporarily use elastic bandage to reduce swelling
Educate - learn and avoid unnecessary treatments but remain active in your recovery
&
Load - let pain inform your return to activities
Optimism - positive outlook can do a lot to help healing, be confident and positive
Vascularisation - choose pain free cardiovascular exercise to increase your blood flow to healing tissues
Exercise - restore mobility, strength and proprioception by being active in your recovery
PEACE is intended for immediate injury care, and LOVE helps to dictate what you should do after.
There are parts to all healthcare that can be picked and chosen, for example, you might really want anti-inflammatories to ease your pain. And that’s ok, the goal of this mnemonic is to give you additional tools that will help speed up your recovery and facilitate healing. It’s not a mandatory list. Do what you can, and come see us when you need some help.
References:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2019/04/26/soft-tissue-injuries-simply-need-peace-love/
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/sprains-strains-and-other-soft-tissue-injuries/