icing knees

I vote no ice-- I am not an advocate of icing--if the player has soreness and INFLAMMATION he better see a good doctor--

Ice is not totaly ridiculous. With that said I hope you know the difference between preventive maintenance (icing post game) and an injury (lasting soreness/weakness and inflamation.)

Icing post game is not a bad idea. PG has this thing called a "Chilly Billy" for arms/shoulders.

For knees post game get two bags of frozen peas, one for each knee. Keep refreezing them and keep reusing them.

Also, eating sugar or a high gylcemic index diet(too many simple carbs) is a big contributor to inflamation... so limit the simple sugars

And, I have my son take one (note I said one) Advil or some such anti-inflamatory before a game to avoid inflamation in the first place.

Very commonsensical stuff.

Kevin,
Icing is an anti-inflammatory precautionary measure. Just the same way pitchers run after a start to try and reduce lactic acid buildup, position players are not at the same risk.

If you had some soreness or stiffness in your knees the day after catching, then icing may be the first step of a preventative maintainance plan. If that didn't work, an NSAID type anti-inflammatory would probably be the next logical step. Although Ibuprofen, Tylenol and Aspirin have long been staples of pain and anti inflammatory management, more people these days seem to be getting better results with Naproxen (Aleve).

I personally know pitchers that are on daily maintenance programs of 1000 mg. per day (500 mg. twice daily), throughout the pitching season. I know one pitcher that ran out of Naproxen, and two weeks later could barely pitch and looked awful (this after being dominant most of the season). Right after that, he resumed his daily Naproxen and within 10 days, was back to his dominant form with total range of motion restored.

Without any day after symptoms of inflammation, my personal opinion, (I'm not really a doctor, I just play one on the internet ), would be that icing, or medication, is unnecessary.

playfair,

In the interest of accuracy, "Chilly Billy" is a good product, but it's not ours.

Icing has always been a controversial topic when it comes to pitchers. Icing catchers knees might not be quite as popular but actually makes sense to me.

I base that opinion on most catchers have another game to catch in a short period of time. So anything that helps in recovery should be something good.

Most pitchers at the highest levels do ice. Of course, there are some that don't ice. Sometimes icing is avoided only because it's one more thing that someone has to do. It becomes unhandy. Also most people don't know how to ice properly and most people don't know how to administer ice correctly.

The jury is still out regarding icing. Most "experts" are in favor, but not all.

As stated in another thread... It is my belief that every time a pitcher is done throwing, he has an arm injury. (This depends on ones definition of injury) The degree of that injury is based on how much the arm has been abused. (This depends on ones definition of abuse) Throwing a baseball overhand is abusive to some degree. If we have a player who ever so slightly sprains an ankle, or gets hit with a pitch, or any number of other things... Ice is usually the first thing considered. Trainers always have access to ice.

So, using "playfair's" words (IMO) icing kind of is common sense. For sure, if there is a more serious injury... Ice will be appropriate. If it helps in recovery from minor injury... that is a good thing. The only negative I've ever heard of is by those who believe the natural inflamation and healing is better than trying to hurry things along. In the case of a catcher, that natural healing might not be able to happen soon enough. It makes sense to ice the knees, especially if there is soreness. Soreness in the knees is very common in catchers. Doing anything while you have a small injury, can lead to more serious problems. So in this case you could argue that a catcher icing knees is helping to prevent more serious injury. There are different degrees of soreness. A baseball player can't run to the doctor every day he experiences soreness. Some are sore most every day and they just keep playing.

Icing can't hurt you. We were told by a family friend ortho dr. to do it after catching.
If there is specific pain on a regular basis, then see a dr. Better yet, find one you like (make sure he/she is an ortho that specializes in knees, not just your GP) and get a recomendation so that if there is a specific problem they can address it, knowing your condition and activity level.
Beware the nurse practitioners for ortho drs. who say - just rest it for a month. (I am sure there are good ones, but we have run into some that are questionable.)

Be proactive!

PG, nicely said... and thx for the Chilly Billy correction.

Ever seen a basketball player after a game with both of his knees being iced?