Successfully recovering from ankle surgery requires a combination of wound care, compression, physical therapy, and pain mitigation. Almost all of these components can be enhanced with the help of cryo-compression treatment. The Game Ready© ice and compression (cryotherapy) machine will make a huge difference with pain relief and a faster recovery. You can use it yourself, it’s portable and easy to apply. Sports Health have helped loads on New Zealanders recovery relatively pain free and quickly with the use of the Game Ready©, find out how:
- Immediately post-operative – The ankle will be completely immobilised while the initial tissue repair takes place. Your surgeon will advise on wound care, pain management, and methods for controlling inflammation. This might include cold therapy (cryo-therapy) to reduce both pain and swelling.
- Shortly after surgery – The length of time your ankle will be immobile depends entirely on the type of surgery you received. This could vary from 2 weeks to 2 months. During this time, as soon as you are out of a cast, it is a good idea to maintain cryo-therapy using ice and compression to relieve pain, reduce swelling and speed recovery.
- Wound care – Cryo-compression from the Game Ready© helps with healing not just of the deeper tissues that were affected by the surgery, but also of the incision sites on the surface. Therapeutic cold slows down cellular metabolism, which helps reduce cell death and secondary tissue damage, contributing to faster healing and less chance of infection.
- Pain control – Many patients find that they can reduce or entirely eliminate the use of pain medication with the use of cryotherapy treatment. They benefit from fewer prescription expenses and reduced risk of addiction. Patients also have a better sense of how their recovery is going and just how much activity they can safely handle when sensations are not dulled by pain medications.
- Physiotherapy enhancement – About 8 weeks after surgery your physiotherapist is likely to want to start work on your ankle to regain full strength and range of motion. Cryo-compression before seeing your Physio can help decrease pain and swelling during the session therefore increasing it’s effectiveness, and cryo-compression afterwards can speed recovery from each session.
