12 Days of First Aid Tips: Sprains & Strains

As the weather shifts and the majority of your mornings are spent scraping frost from your windshield you may find that as you step outside you resemble Bambi trying to walk for the first time. Two words – black ice. How many times have you slipped and fallen over due to this menace?  

We’re all dreaming of a white Christmas, building snowmen and making snow angels, but the pavements can be awfully treacherous at this time of year. To help you out in this slippery season, we have compiled a list of top first aid tips to prepare you should you fall and injure yourself.

2# Sprains and Strains

There are four simple steps to treat both sprains and strains and they can be remembered with the acronym RICE – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

1. Rest the injury; do not continue to put pressure on it as it may worsen.
2. Apply an ice pack to the injured area. Make sure you don’t apply it directly on the skin because it may cause some damage; wrap a piece of cloth around the ice pack before use.
3. Compress the injury with a tight bandage to reduce swelling.
4. Keep the injury elevated.

If the injury doesn’t show signs of improvement after a few days, if you are experiencing severe pain, or you cannot move the injured area then we would advise that you seek advice from a GP.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions about the procedure of treating sprains and strains, we are happy to answer them over on Facebook and Twitter.

But don’t just stop there - to gain even more knowledge of life-saving first aid, download our first aid app by searching for imperative training in your app or play store. It’s free!