Abstract
Objective
To investigate the effect of cryotherapy after elbow arthrolysis on elbow pain, blood
loss, analgesic consumption, range of motion, and long-term elbow function.
Design
Prospective, single-blinded, randomized controlled study.
Setting
University hospital.
Participants
Patients (N=59; 27 women, 32 men) who received elbow arthrolysis.
Interventions
Patients were randomly assigned into a cryotherapy group (n=31, cryotherapy plus standard
care) or a control group (n=28, standard care).
Main Outcome Measures
Elbow pain at rest and in motion were measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) on
postoperative day (POD) 1 to POD 7 and at 2 weeks and 3 months after surgery. Blood
loss and analgesic consumption were recorded postoperatively. Elbow range of motion
(ROM) was measured before surgery and on POD 1, POD 7, and 3 months after surgery.
The Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) was evaluated preoperatively and 3 months
postoperatively.
Results
VAS scores were significantly lower in the cryotherapy group during the first 7 PODs,
both at rest and in motion (P<.05). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in VAS scores at
2 weeks and 3 months after surgery. Less sufentanil was consumed by the cryotherapy
group than the control group for pain relief (P<.01). No significant differences were found in blood loss, ROM, and MEPS between
the 2 groups (P>.05).
Conclusions
Cryotherapy is effective in relieving pain and reducing analgesic consumption for
patients received elbow arthrolysis. The application of cryotherapy will not affect
blood loss, ROM, or elbow function.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
MEPS (Mayo Elbow Performance Score), POD (postoperative day), ROM (range of motion), TKA (total knee arthroplasty), VAS (visual analog scale)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 03, 2014
Footnotes
The cryotherapy device was owned by the Department of Orthopaedics of our hospital, and we used it free of charge during the study.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
