In my office I have a perpetual calendar, the kind where each date is on a separate tile. Twelve times I year I have to rearrange the pieces to match the current month, and align day and date. Once I figure out where the first is, it's just a matter of moving each tile forward or back to be correct. Until I get to the end. That's because some months have 30 days, others 31. And how to remember which is which? I resort to a rhyme I learned a long, long, long time ago: "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November, all the rest have 31." It continues with some blather about February, but by then I've got my info. Unless it's February.
That mnemonic is just one that helps us recall various and sundry pieces of info. There are spelling mnemonics, wherein the first letter of each word reminds you how to spell a word: to spell "rhythm" remember the sentence "rhythm helps your two hips move." There are ones to help you remember the order of things: music students are taught the first letter of each word in "every good boy deserves fun" names the lines of the treble clef (EGBDF). And acronyms can help you remember a related set of words or names: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior are the five great lakes, and the first letter of each spells HOMES.
I'm embarrassed to say the number of times I still resort to these things even at this point in my life. Spelling: "I before E except after C." Grammar: the principal is the "pal" that runs the school, while a principLE is a fundamental ruLE. And perhaps most sadly, setting the table: I make an "OK" sign with both hands: the lowercase "B" side is for the bread plate, while the "D" side is for the drinking glass. Yes, it's silly but it works.
So when I hurt my leg, I recalled a mnemonic as to the proper way to treat it. RICE used to lay out the steps you should take for an acute but not dangerous muscle injury. Letter by letter it goes like this: Rest, meaning to stop the activity you are doing and give the area time to heal; Ice, meaning to apply cold packs to cool the area and slow the blood flow; Compress, meaning to wrap or bind it to reduce swelling; and Elevate, to raise the affected area to help drain fluid. Whether it's a sprained ankle or a pulled shoulder, these steps put you on the road to recovery.
But advances in medicine and rehab have determiend that there is a better course of action, and so RICE has been replaced by POLICE. While the I-C-E steps are still there, they are joined by two more. P stands for Protection: isolate the affected area away from further harm. While self-evident, it's a reminder to take care so as not to whack the same spot again, exacerbating the injury. The O and L are the newest kids on the block, and stand for Optimal Loading. The idea is that just propping your foot in the air and waiting for it to heal is the not the best approach. Rather, you should start to add some weight or resistance as soon as you are able to strengthen and help any scar tissue develop in the right direction. Otherwise, when you finally do get around to moving, the area will be stiffer and less pliable and more at risk to being reinjured. Note that the inventors did take liberties with the order. The O- L should come later in the process than the I-C-E, but then the mnemonic would be PICEOL, and who could remember that?
There are even some researchers who go a step further, throwing out RICE and POLICE in favor or PEACE & LOVE. PEACE is Protection, Elevation, Avoid Anti-Inflammatories (a view that some inflammation is good as it promotes healing), Compression and Education (learn what your body needs to heal and go with that). LOVE is Load, Optimism (the idea that mental outlook is important to recovery), Vascularisation (do activities that promote blood flow) and Exercise. Never say never but it's early days as to whether this one will catch on ,or be remembered simply as STUPID.
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Marc Wollin of Bedford is resting his LEG. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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