When not to take an ice bath

As great as ice baths are for many different aspects of the body and mind healing journey, it’s not a cure for all for all that ails us. The ice bath benefits are great for things it can actually help, such as sore muscles or anxiety and stress. However, there are certain situations where an ice bath will not be able to help and may even cause further distress and problems. If you want to know whether or not to take an ice bath, then continue reading this blog post and find out. However, also speak to your doctor or health care professional.

When you have a serious injury

There is a difference between feeling muscle soreness and having intense pain. If, after a big workout, you feel some serious pain somewhere in your body, then you may need to see a doctor and skip the ice bath. Things such as a fractured bone or body part, or a torn ligament or tendon, cannot and will not be fixed by an ice bath. Muscle soreness can happen immediately after a workout, but it won’t typically be excruciating. If that is what you are feeling, take it as our first sign to get some medical help.

If you have an open wound

The same sentiment goes here as the last point, this is just something an ice bath can’t help. It could help clean the wound but if it is a deep enough wound, you might need to get it surgically stitched to stop the bleeding. And if it’s just a small open wound or a cut of some sort, then some gauze or a bandaid will do after a quick rinse. There really is no need to fill a bathtub with ice and cold water and get into it for that.

If you have one of these conditions

When you hop into an ice bath, it is going to be really cold. When your body is submerged in water that’s that cold, your blood vessels constrict in size. This causes the blood flow in your body not to be as much as it was before, it’s when you get out is when the benefits of good blood flow start. Unfortunately, this makes it so that people with certain medical conditions cannot safely have an ice bath. These medical conditions include heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes. poor circulation, and venous stasis.