2020 Volume 18 Issue 2 Pages 59-66
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of constant temperature cryotherapy post total knee arthroplasty (TKA) at a temperature much higher than temperatures commonly used in treatment protocols. Two experiments were performed. In Experiment 1, surface and deep temperatures of eleven healthy males were measured every minute over a period of 30 minutes of cooling. In Experiment 2, sixteen TKA patients were assigned to two groups (Control and Intervention) and compared. The intervention consisted of constant temperature cryotherapy for 30 minutes once a day for two weeks. For about the first 10 minutes of the intervention, cryotherapy was applied at rest and then combined with exercise therapy. Surface temperature and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were also measured, along with blood C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. In both experiments, a special device was used to maintain the temperature of a fluid, of which water was the main component, at 12 degrees centigrade. In Experiment 1, after 30 minutes of cooling, surface temperature significantly decreased by average 8.3 degrees centigrade and deep temperature significantly decreased by average 4.7 degrees centigrade. In Experiment 2, there was a trend toward a reduction in pain levels (VAS) after cooling compared with before cooling and there was also a trend toward decreased CRP levels in the Intervention group compared with Control in 7 days. The results of the present study suggest that constant temperature cryotherapy centigrade may contribute to the reduction of pain, and cooling at lower temperatures may be unnecessary.
