Why does icing bruises help

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See more conditions. First aid Bruise: First aid. Sections Basics In-Depth Resources. Products and services. How to administer first aid for a bruise By Mayo Clinic Staff. That will reduce blood flow to the bruise which can help it from getting too bad. Bruises, or contusions, are the result of the trapped blood from broken capillaries pooling beneath the skin's surface. Less blood flow, then, can mean a less severe bruise.

A bruise indicates there's a wound, so in order to heal the bruise you must heal the wound. To reduce swelling and speed up healing , apply ice on and off for the first 24 to 48 hours.

The proper way to ice is to wrap your ice pack or frozen peas in a towel and leave it on the area for ten minutes at a time. If you feel like icing again shortly after, wait at least 20 minutes to give your skin a break from the chill. As with ice, the goal here is to reduce swelling in order to speed up the healing process. Keep the bruised area above your heart in order to drain the area of fluid and reduce pressure. Heat will also help reduce swelling and help blood circulate post-injury.

Blood circulation is key in the days following an injury because it will help clear out the blood trapped beneath the skin. Wait 24 hours after the injury, and then apply heat on and off.

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Advertisement Advertisement. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Others Others. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". But if you're in a hurry to get rid of those blotchy, purple spots sooner, here are five remedies that can speed up the healing process.

Ice is one of the most commonly used, tried and true remedies for bruises and other injuries. When you get a bruise, it damages your blood vessels and causes the blood to leak out. The blood gets trapped in the surrounding soft tissues, giving skin a blotchy, purple appearance, says Angelo Marino, DO , vascular and interventional radiologist at Yale Medicine.

It also constricts the tiny blood vessels in the surrounding tissues, thereby decreasing the amount of blood that leaks out," says Marino. It's best to take action as soon as possible after the injury. Marino says you should apply an ice pack or something else cold like a bag of frozen peas over the area immediately after the injury, and then again throughout the first 24 to 48 hours after.

You can ice the area for 15 minutes at a time, and then wait about 15 to 20 minutes before reapplying the ice. Marino says you can do this several times throughout the day. Just be sure to wrap the ice in a cloth or paper towel to protect your skin from cold temperatures.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, heat can also help clear up a bruise. Marino says heat works by increasing blood flow to the bruised area, which can help your body break up and reabsorb the trapped blood. According to Mariano, it's best to avoid heat at first. Instead, you should opt for remedies like ice to decrease inflammation.