Hot and cold therapy for rehabilitation after knee arthroplasty

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy and significance of hot and cold therapy for the patients' rehabilitation after knee arthroplasty.Methods 60 patients with osteoarthritis,treated in our hospital from March,2010 to August,2012 and taking knee arthroplasty,were selected as the study objects and then were randomly divided into a control group and a hot and cold therapy group,30 cases for each group.The control group did conventional rehabilitation exercises after the surgery.In additon,the hot and cold therapy group alternately took hyperthermia therapy and cold treatment twice a day (seven days as a course) for a month.Postoperative pain and joint mobility situation were compared.Results After the rehabilitation exercises,the pain index was (3.16 ± 1.02) in the hot and cold therapy group and was (4.36 + 1.54) in the control group.After the rehabilitation treatment,88％ patients of the hot and cold therapy group and 76％ patients of the control group had excellent functional activity of the affected knee,with a statistical difference (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Hot and cold therapy for osteoarthritis patients' rehabilitation after knee arthroplasty can obviously relieve their post-operative pain and improve the function of the knee joint activities and their quality of life. Key words: Hot and cold therapy;  Knee arthroplasty;  Rehabilitation;  Osteoarthritis