Cold therapy: a key to painless physiotherapy

After an operation, many patients undergo rehabilitation with physiotherapy. However, they often suffer from severe pain, especially at the beginning, which can also impair movement sequences during physiotherapy. Cold therapy as a pre-treatment can alleviate the pain and improve the success of the therapy afterwards.

In an interview with MEDICA-tradefair.com, Tjerk Wanders and Karl Keis provide insights into how cold therapy works and developments in this area.

Mr. Wanders, how have the possible applications for cold therapy in physiotherapy and sports medicine developed in recent years?

Tjerk Wanders: Large cold chambers such as the icelab models from Zimmer MedizinSysteme are currently not very common in physiotherapy in Europe. Even if the icelab models are used more in the Middle East, for example, smaller solutions for cold therapy are more in demand on the European market. A lot has changed in recent years as a result of hospital budgeting and COVID-19.

Patients who undergo outpatient surgery these days are sent home early with a prescription for rehabilitation. Here, patients are often faced with the problem of having to go to physiotherapy, sometimes with a lot of pain. This is where cold therapy is used to make their rehabilitation easier.

Pre-treatment with a product from our Cryo range ensures that movements during physiotherapy can be carried out with less pain. This is partly thanks to the ongoing development and research into the possibilities of cryotherapy. The scientific evidence in this area is still developing and is leading to the increasing popularity of cold treatment in physiotherapy and the development of new applications.

The treatment is therefore mainly effective against pain. Are there other advantages to using cold therapy?

Wanders: Another important area of application is reducing the risk of inflammation. The cold influences a number of mechanisms, including blood circulation, which together have a positive effect on the inflammatory process. Even though the processes behind inflammation are a natural reaction of the body that contribute to healing, the accompanying pain and inflammation itself are often an additional burden for those affected. This can often be observed in older people who have a new joint. The cause of complications is not the hospital stay or the operation, but the post-operative inflammation. This is precisely where cold therapy is very effective.

How sustainable is cryotherapy with your systems in terms of energy consumption?

Wanders: Our cryo models basically work like a refrigerator - the ambient air is cooled down. The power consumption is very low and does not place a major burden on the grid, something we have worked on continuously over the years.

Karl Keis: The normal cryo devices today require little electricity. Once they are running, they consume around 1.2 kilowatts. They are energy-optimized thanks to an additional stand-by mode. The large icelabs models always produce a lot of heat when generating cold. Where possible, we integrate this heat into the building's heating cycle.

For example, if the refrigeration chamber is located in a physiotherapy clinic that also has an adjoining swimming pool, the waste heat can often be used to heat the pool. The aim is always to use the systems as sustainably as possible and to integrate them into an overall energy concept.

As an exhibitor at MEDICA 2023, what impressions did you take away from this year's trade fair?

Keis: MEDICA is our home trade fair. We always have a lot of contact with our customers, as we also very actively invite customers to visit us on site. The personal exchange with our partners and the opportunity to present the new devices directly to trade fair visitors is very important to us. We also use the trade fair for market research, as not only customers are there, but also many manufacturers. This means we can always see where there are exciting new developments. This also includes new component parts at COMPAMED, for example.

In summary, MEDICA is a central trade fair for us that offers us the opportunity to establish partnerships, exchange ideas with dealers and analyze market developments. In this respect, MEDICA 2023 was once again very successful for us.