My knee still has swelling, which is pretty normal this stage of the game. My physical therapist tells me icing will help reduce the swelling. But this is what they said about using the cryocuff after the surgery and there's no good evidence that makes much of a difference. So what about icing at this late date?
Several studies have looked at the effect of icing on soft tissue injuries. The verdict seems to be that ice doesn't do much. This review study from 2008 concluded: "There is insufficient evidence to suggest that cryotherapy improves clinical outcome in the management of soft tissue injuries." Another review study from 2004 came to pretty much the same conclusion.
I've also heard that to get deep tissues to a cold enough temperature to having any real reduction in swelling would require leaving the ice on the skin so long that it would actually do damage. And even then, you might not be able to achieve low enough temperatures in the deeper tissues.
So I think it's safe to say that ice is a bit of an old wives' tale. It might help reduce pain, which can be a good thing, but it doesn't seem to provide much, if any, reduction in swelling. So if ice is no longer needed for treating injuries, what can we do with all the extra? Maybe these guys would like to have it:
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