Influence of different time points of ice bag compress on swelling and pain in patients with ankle fracture combined with soft tissue injuries

LEI Xiao-li

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-4237.2017.12.010

Abstract：Objective To investigate the influence of different time points of ice bag cold compress on swelling and pain in patients with ankle fracture combined with soft tissue injuries .Methods A retrospective anal-ysis method was carried out on 171 patients with ankle fracture combined with soft tissue injuries in our hospital from Oct.2014 to Mar.2016.There were 105 males and 66 females with an average age of 43.1 (22-71) years.Fifteen cases were injured from high falling ,42 were from road traffic accidents ,64 were from falling and 50 were from sports injury.They were divided into 4 groups according to the starting time point they treated with ice bag cold compress after injury .The state of swelling and pain were compared among the 4 groups ( group A was within 6 h after injury , group B was 7-12 h after injury ,group C was 13-18 h after injury and group D was 19-24 h after injury ) .Ice bag was packaged around the swelling site and changed every 2h.The skin was observed every ten min in case of cold injury .VAS score and swelling degree were compared . Results Patients in group A showed the highest inhibitive effect on swelling and pain within 6-24 h after injury.Patients in group B showed the highest inhibitive effect on swelling and pain within 3-36 h after injury .Patients in group C showed the highest inhibitive effect on swelling and pain within 3-6 h and 0-3 h after injury.Patients in group D showed no improvement of swelling and pain comparing with pre-treatment.Conclusion Ice bag cold compress in treating patients with ankle fracture combined with soft tis-sue injuries can help control the trauma and inflammation,and help reduce the pain of patients and improve the clinical condition of patients.