Women's Health September 17, 2026 0 Comments

Forget RICE: The Surprising Injury Treatment That Will Get You Back Stronger, Faster—And Doctors Don’t Want You to Know!

Ever since I laced up my first pair of cleats in elementary school, the RICE method has been my go-to injury mantra: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. It’s basically been etched into my brain by every coach, trainer, and well-meaning adult around. But here’s a curveball for you—what if the very routine we swear by to mend those pesky sprains and strains could actually be slowing us down? Yup, recent research and some savvy sports medicine pros are flipping the script on RICE, introducing a new—and admittedly lovelier—approach called PEACE and LOVE. It sounds like the start of a self-help book, but trust me, this isn’t about cupid’s arrows. This science-backed nine-step method might just be the key to bouncing back faster and stronger than ever. Curious? Let’s unpack why it’s time to retire RICE and embrace some PEACE and a whole lotta LOVE for your next injury recovery. LEARN MORE

6 min read

Having been an athlete since elementary school, RICE has been drilled into my brain for seemingly my entire life. For the uninformed, it stands for rest, ice, compression, elevation—four steps to treat minor injuries like sprains, muscle pulls, or general aches and soreness.

Every coach I’ve ever had—for soccer, basketball, track and field, fencing, and even swimming—has impressed upon me the benefits of RICE, and I’ve followed the advice dutifully. But recent research suggests the four-step process may not actually be the best method for treating injuries.

Meet the experts: Julia Louisa Iafrate, DO, is an assistant professor at NYU Langone Health and team physician for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. Siobhán M. Statuta, MD, is a professor of family medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Virginia and team physician for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

Many sports medicine physicians now agree that RICE is an incomplete set of directions. The new acronym to remember? PEACE and LOVE.

Yup, it’s a lot longer—but it’s actually more supported by science to get you back in action faster and stronger. Here’s what you need to know.

Wait, so what’s wrong with RICE?

RICE has been around a long time—since the ’70s, in fact. “It became the standard first-aid approach to acute soft-tissue injury (like a strain, sprain, or bruising) because each step was thought to limit bleeding, swelling, secondary tissue damage, and pain during the acute inflammatory phase,” says Julia Louisa Iafrate, DO, an assistant professor at NYU Langone Health and team physician for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. Translation: Right after an injury occurs, rest, ice, compression, and elevation were all thought to help control swelling and prevent an injury from progressing any further.

But RICE actually wasn’t based on research, and was more about what doctors thought would best help those minor injuries. It was never actually run through rigorous scientific trials, Dr. Iafrate says.

One area where docs overshot their recs? Rest. RICE puts a lot of emphasis on rest. It’s the first letter in the acronym, after all. But it may be less helpful than you’d think. “Over the years, I’ve seen that people can sometimes over-rest an injury, when early, appropriate movement and progressive loading can help restore function and facilitate a more efficient return to activity or sport,” says Siobhán M. Statuta, MD, a professor of family medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Virginia and team physician for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

The good news: If you’ve been doing RICE your whole life, it’s not harmful. It’s just time for an upgrade.

Introducing: PEACE and LOVE

The new injury-treatment protocol suggested by many sports medicine physicians has five more steps than RICE for a total of nine—but don’t fret, it’s still just as easy to implement. Some even carry right over from the OG acronym. It splits treatment into two categories: the first comes immediately after the injury, and the second comes once things start to improve.

“The key to injury recovery is to understand what has actually been injured, how serious it is, and what that particular person needs to safely progress through recovery,” Dr. Statuta says. PEACE and LOVE provide a framework for that approach, emphasizing appropriate protection early on, followed by education, gradual loading, and a progressive return to activity rather than simply waiting to heal.

She breaks down the nine steps of PEACE and LOVE, below.

PEACE is most helpful in the first one to three days post-injury.

Protect: Avoid triggering or painful activities to minimize further damage. If you hurt your foot playing soccer, take a few days to reduce the load on your foot; skip your next rec game and forgo that run you had planned.

Elevate: This one carries right over from RICE. Get that injury up above your heart. Per Dr. Statuta, “if the injury is kept above the level of the heart, less swelling will set in and gravity will also assist with reducing the existing swelling.”

Avoid Anti-Inflammatories: You’re going to want to skip out on anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen or aspirin as much as possible. “These medications or actions may actually slow down healing as inflammation is a necessary part of healing,” Dr. Statuta says. (Obviously, sometimes an injury can be painful, and you may really want to go for a med. That’s okay, just try to limit them or go for acetaminophen instead.) But it’s not just meds. Ice—the ‘I’ in RICE—is also an anti-inflammatory, and should be skipped for the same reason.

Compress: Another carryover from RICE, physicians still recommend a compressive wrap to limit swelling and assist with circulation.

Educate: This final step in PEACE is a little vague, but it refers to learning about the benefits of active versus passive recovery—the next step in the healing process, or the LOVE phase. This is ideally the responsibility of a professional, like a physical therapist or doctor, who can talk through the specifics of your injury and the specifics that will happen during the LOVE phase.

LOVE comes after those initial days of treating your injury.

Load: As soon as you are able, you should start to reintroduce controlled mechanical loading with bodyweight exercises and normal weight-bearing movements to help begin the process of tissue repair in the affected area. Keep in mind you’ll likely need to ease back into what was considered full load pressure from pre-injury, and that if you’re feeling any pain, the load is too much.

Optimism: As cheesy as it may sound, a positive outlook has been shown to play a more significant role in injury recovery than you might think.

Vascularization: Slowly introducing cardiovascular exercise can help increase blood flow to the injured body part and speed up the healing process because it delivers oxygen, nutrients, and healing cells to the damaged tissue while simultaneously removing waste products. That said, not all injuries are the same. “An ankle sprain, for example, can range from a relatively minor injury that recovers in a couple of weeks to a severe injury that can take six months or longer to fully recover,” notes Dr. Statuta. Whatever cardiovascular exercises you can currently do without pain, like short walks or light cycling, are good places to start. She adds, “Eventually, reincorporation of activity-specific (or sport-specific) function is important to minimize re-injury.”

Exercise: The final step in recovering from an injury is to have a structured and progressive exercise plan designed to bring the injured body part back up to full strength and range of motion.

When Your Injury Needs More Than Just PEACE and LOVE

Both RICE and PEACE and LOVE are for managing very specific, lower-level soft tissue injuries at home. Bone and head injuries, like potential fractures and concussions, should prompt you to visit a professional right away. Beyond that, though, there are a number of clear signs and symptoms that may indicate a more serious problem that requires medical intervention.

Per the docs, those include rapidly increasing or severe swelling, tenderness without obvious signs of bruising (which can be a sign of internal bruising or bleeding), joint instability, signs of infection like a fever, an obvious deformity, excessive bruising, decreased sensation, numbness, and tingling.

Plus, both experts note that failure to improve while using PEACE and LOVE is also cause for concern. If you’re not seeing any improvement after roughly five to seven days, or your symptoms are getting worse, it’s time to re-evaluate the situation with the aid of an MRI, X-ray, or other testing that can only be done by a medical professional.

No matter where you are in your injury journey, it’s never a bad idea to reach out to the experts for some help. You’ll be back out there in no time!

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Abby Hepworth is a freelancer writer who covers all things running, wellness, and fashion. Her work has appeared on Runner’s World, PureWow, and Coveteur. She is an RRCA-certified run coach and is currently working toward USATF certification as well. If she’s not out for a run in Central Park, you can likely find her hiking and backpacking along the Sierra Nevada range out west.