or a pictorial..tutorial…hmm I guess you can’t really combine those words…maybe ptutorial?
After my knee injury, the doctor recommended doing an ice massage. An ice massage is where you take a large chunk of ice and rub it over an area with pressure. The goal is to both cool and press the area to increase the effectiveness of the ice.
Everything I’ve read on the topic, and even the doctor himself recommended using a Styrofoam cup to freeze water and then peeling the cup away to reveal the ice. One important note…Never ever apply the ice to your skin for more than a few minutes. Once things get numb you need to remove the ice pretty soon or you will get frost bite. Being that it was earth day on the day of my diagnosis, I wanted to try something a little more green. Here is what I did.
I used a bunch of Dole Fruit Snack cups, you can get them in packs like this one.
They look like this out of the package:
Step 1. Eat fruit (yum) and wash out the cup:
Step 2. Fill with water:
Step 3. Freeze it:
Step 4. Pop it out of the cup, just the warmth of your hands is enough to defrost the outside of the ice is get it to pop right out.
Step 5. Hold the ice with a paper towel and apply it to your injury. Those ridges from the fruit cup come in handy when you apply the ice.
That about does it. It works really well and is eco-friendly. I have one at work and a couple at home ready to go at all times. It is a bit drippy obviously, that would be the case no matter how you did it. If that is a problem either lay a towel under your leg or throw it in a ziplock bag. Either way, you won’t leave a puddle. No one likes a puddle!