Effect of Bilateral Lower Extremity Cold-Compression on Knee Pain

Abstract

Cold-compression (CC) therapies are common modalities used to reduce pain, provide symptomatic management in disease, and mitigate delayed onset muscle soreness. CC is routinely applied after acute injury or following surgery; however, little is known regarding its use in chronic knee pain. We hypothesized the use of the Aquilo bilateral lower extremity CC system would significantly reduce participants' knee pain immediately following and up to 2 days after a single therapy session. Fifteen participants (11 females, 4 males; avg age 50.6±16.9) with chronic knee pain. The protocol was a pre-posttest study of cardio-vascular, pain pressure thresholds (PPT) and perceived knee pain immediately after and 1- and 2-days post-treatment using Aquilo Sports bilateral cold compression system. CC lowered mean knee skin temperature 12.0 °C (± 1.1) while applying an average compression of 5.8 (± 1.8) mmHg. This occurred without significant changes vitals. Mean PPT values rose 3.2-4.0 (± 0.7-0.9) lbf following CC. Pain Catastrophizing Scale scores fell from 7.8(± 1.9) to 2.8(± 1.6) 48 hours post CC. All 5 domains of the Knee Injury Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) had increases in mean scores 1- and 2-days post CC. The CC session was effective at improving self-reported pain levels over 2 days post. CC effectively lowered skin temperature and increased PPT without adverse events. There is a real clinical need for effective and affordable treatments for management of chronic knee pain in adults. The Aquilo CC system may offer a non-pharmaceutical intervention to improve analgesia, which may serve as a tool to enhance participation in physical activity, improve mobility, and quality of life for those with knee pain.