Efficacy of Ice Application After Hand Surgery.

Purpose: After-surgery use of ice is largely empirical, with limited data on actual effectiveness. This study evaluated the impact of ice on skin temperature changes under plaster splints after hand and wrist surgery. We hypothesize that applying ice packs over splints in the early postoperative period will not considerably affect skin heat exposure because of the exothermic reaction of the cast material curing.

Methods: This prospective, randomized clinical study involved patients placed in volar resting wrist or thumb spica splints after surgery. Temperature probes recorded skin temperatures near the incision for 60 minutes. Ice was applied based on randomization. Total heat capacity and temperature exposure were calculated for each group.

Results: One-hundred-nineteen subjects (58 ice group and 61 control group) were included. Ice led to a mean temperature decrease of 1.19 °C near the incision, whereas in the control group, temperature increased by 0.987 °C. The control group's temperature did not return to baseline within 60 minutes, whereas the ice group reached baseline temperatures 40 minutes after splinting and decreased to an average minimum of 31.4 °C. The ice group experienced a mean heat capacity decrease of 2,030 calories, whereas the control group saw an increase of 1,520 calories.

Conclusions: Our findings support that ice significantly reduces skin temperature under splinted wrists.

Type of study/level of evidence: Therapeutic II.