How is PEACE & LOVE different from the old acronyms ICE, RICE, PRICE, or POLICE?

As we enter the holiday season, The Running Clinic team wishes you some PEACE & LOVE – and encourages you to spread it with your clients, too!

 

In 2020, The Running Clinic’s very own Blaise Dubois (Founder, Speaker) and JF Esculier (Leader of Research & Development, Speaker) published an editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine with an updated protocol for managing soft-tissue injuries.

 

It was time to move on from old acronyms like ICE, RICE, PRICE and POLICE. The new PEACE & LOVE incorporates the latest science on tissue healing and is different in the following ways:

 

 PEACE AND LOVE

 

  1. The old acronyms focus on only the acute stage of healing, whereas PEACE is meant to guide the acute stage and LOVE is meant to be a progression for the subacute/chronic stages, and the different steps are in chronological order.
  2. PEACE & LOVE adds in the importance of Educating patients about their particular injury, timelines of healing, and why further investigations/imaging are often not needed for soft-tissue injuries.
  3. PEACE & LOVE encompasses a biopsychosocial approach. Addressing psychosocial factors (Optimism), in addition to Education, plays an important role in promoting recovery and can help prevent persistent pain.
  4. PEACE & LOVE emphasizes the importance of “Doing No Harm” and encourages the consideration of risk to benefit ratios. Specifically, it highlights to Avoid anti-inflammatories such as NSAIDs, and even ice, as they can potentially delay tissue healing (and have other side effects). Inflammation is the first stage of healing and not necessarily a bad thing!
  5. PEACE & LOVE promotes an active approach, advocating for the use of early Loading and Vascularization – i.e. light, pain-free aerobic activity such as stationary cycling to promote blood flow and healing (rather than simply relying on passive modalities or pain medications). It also advocates for the use of specific rehabilitation Exercises to help restore mobility, strength, and proprioception.
  6. As a bonus, PEACE & LOVE is a much more fun acronym! The world could use a little more PEACE & LOVE, don’t you think? ;)

 

For a patient resource, check out our YouTube video:

Bea Francisco

Bea Francisco (BKin, MSc, MPT) is a physiotherapist practicing at MoveMed Physiotherapy, a specialized clinic recommended by The Running Clinic based in Kelowna, Canada.