Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Different cooling strategies exist for emergency treatments immediately after sports trauma or after surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of three cooling regimen during the immediate postoperative phase as well as in the rehabilitation phase.
Methods 36 patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction received either no cooling (control-group, Con, N=12), were cooled with a menthol-containing cooling bandage (Mtl, N=12) or cooled with an ice containing cold pack (CP, N=12). During a 12-week physiotherapy treatment the cross section of the vastus medialis muscle was examined (day—1; 30; 60; 90) and painkiller consumption was documented.
Results A significant reduction in the cross section area 30 days after surgery was observed in CP and Con (Mtl: −3.2±1.7%, p=0.14, CP: −8.8±4.3%, p<0.01, Con: −7.2±8.1%, p<0.05). After 90 days of therapy, a significant increase in muscle cross section area was observed in Mtl (Mtl: 4.6%±6.1%, p<0.05, CP: 1.9%± 8.1%, p=0.29, Con: 3.3%±9.4%, p=0.31). The absolute painkiller consumption was lower for Mtl (25.5±3.7 tablets) than for CP (39.5±6.9 tablets) or Con (34.8±4.2 tablets).
Conclusion We observed a beneficial effect of cooling by a menthol-containing bandage during the rehabilitation phase. Reduction of muscle cross section within 30 days after surgery was prevented which highly contributed to rehabilitation success after 90 days of therapy. Painkiller consumption was reduced with Mtl.
- rehabilitation
- recovery
- sports medicine
- physiotherapy
- orthopaedics
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Footnotes
Contributors KL, PH and SA designed the study. PH and DE performed the experiments and SA analysed the data. PH, SA and DE wrote the paper with input from all authors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication All study participants were older than 18 years and were informed prior to signing the consent form about any inpatient steps, potential risks and investigations.
Ethics approval The procedures and interventions used in the present study were set up in accordance to the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) and were evaluated and approved by the Ethics Commission St. Gallen, Switzerland (EKSG 15/160; ISRCTN: 10207058; SwissEthics ProjectID: PB_2016–00286).
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.