First Aid Acronyms Explained – RICE
An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation, created from the initial letters of a phrase or a word. The first aid world uses many acronyms to help us remember different treatments. In this series we have explained the meanings of the most common first aid acronyms to help you avoid confusion!
R.I.C.E.
R – Rest the injury, the more pressure and movement on the injury site the worse it will get
I – Ice the injury. This really means cool it! Don’t put ice directly next to the skin, but cooling the injury site will help prevent further swelling and reduce the pain
C – Compress the injury site. This is usually done with an elasticated bandage of some sort, this helps reduce swelling. Remember that the bandage should not be too tight, so some books now use the word ‘Comfort’ rather than ‘compression’ IE a comfortable bandage.
E – Elevate the injury. Again this will help reduce swelling.
(Note some books use PRICE. The P stands for Protect ie Protect the injury site from further damage.)
Treatment of soft tissue injuries is all about ‘Preventing Worsening’, one of the 3 Priorities of First Aid. A true soft tissue injury cannot be ‘walked off’ – further use will only aggravate the injury and make it worse, so we rest the casualty. Swelling can also cause further damage so we want to avoid too much swelling from happening by using cooling, comfortable compression and elevation.
If you are cooling the injury site, particularly with ice, ensure that you limit the cooling period to cycles of 10 minutes, on and off.
You may find that if an injury is not too serious, and doesn’t swell, then a period of rest will allow activity to recommence. In this case ensure that the casualty returns to activity slowly and carefully, use progressive function testing and a graduated return to play in a sporting or outdoor context to ensure that the casualty is fully capable.
Find out more about treatment of sporting injuries and the use of ice in this blog, and check our video below showing how to assess a soft tissue injury.
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