The Effectiveness of Ice Therapy in the Treatment of Acute Pain in the Early Postoperative Period in Sports-Related Knee Injuries
Lucija Benković, Dubravka Matijašić-Bodalec*, Kristina Kužnik, Petra Mamić, Nika Srb, Nikola Bajan and Antun Bajan
Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of ice therapy in reducing acute pain in the early postoperative period in patients with sports-related knee injuries at the Pediatric Orthopedics Department of the Children’s Hospital Zagreb. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants and Methods The research included a total of 84 examinees who underwent knee surgery. For the purposes of this research, data was collected from the Hospital Information System on examinees who underwent surgery after a knee sports-related injury between April 2022 and April 2023 at the Pediatric Orthopedics Department of the Children’s Hospital Zagreb, with regard to gender, age, diagnosis, type of surgery, the use of pain medication therapy, the use and duration of physical therapy with cold compresses, the length of postoperative treatment in the hospital, during which data on self-assessment of pain based on the visual-analogue scale (VAS) were collected every day. Results The most common cause of knee injuries was football (31%), with the most common diagnosis being patellar injury (24%). The most frequently performed surgical procedure was arthroscopy with reconstruction (64.3%). Out of all examinees who received ice therapy, 88.1% had a positive reaction, while 7.1% had a negative reaction. All of the examinees received therapy with cold compresses several times a day, and 33.3% of them received painkillers along with cold compresses. The most frequently used therapy was paracetamol (25%), followed by ketoprofen (19%) and ibuprofen (4.76%). Conclusion This study showed that painkillers are more effective in reducing the level of pain than the application of cold compresses. However, ice therapy significantly reduced postoperative pain both in girls and boys. Ice therapy and painkillers are most effective on the second postoperative day of treatment.
