What Are Cold Therapy Devices?
Cold therapy (sometimes referred to as cryo therapy) devices are used to minimize swelling resulting from surgery by cooling the inflamed or swollen area of the body. After filling the device (which resembles a cooler) with ice water, the cooling pad is placed on the affected body part. A circulating pump inside the cold therapy device continually circulates ice water to the cooling pad through connecting tubes. This helps keep the pad ice-cold for extended periods of time. Why Are Cold Therapy Devices Causing Skin and Nerve Damage? Doctors usually prescribe cold therapy devices to patients following surgery or serious injury, but the devices come with very little instruction (or none at all) about recommended temperatures or length of treatment and lack a shut-off or alarm mechanism that would prevent the device running too long or too cold. Many people are told something along the lines of, The colder the pad and the longer you can keep it on your skin, the better. Because of existin
