Surgeons are increasingly recognizing that the quality of post-surgery/post-injury rehabilitation is a critical factor in successful outcomes and that successful surgical procedures are dependent on the quality of the postoperative rehabilitation.
“Performing hip arthroscopy procedures for Major League Baseball pitchers over the last 3 decades, I have come to realize the importance of choosing the most effective recovery therapy device.” said J W Thomas Byrd, MD, an orthopedic surgical consultant for various MLB Clubs, in an article published in the American Journal of Orthopedics.
“Whether a professional athlete or not, all our patients want convenience and we want to see progress. Progress is motivating, it encourages compliance – and that improves outcomes,” added Kenneth Akizuki, MD, San Francisco Giants Baseball team physician. “Without a doubt, the best surgeries are made even better by the best rehab tools and regimens.”
During the rehab process, pain control is essential to the patient’s ability to participate and achieve optimal recovery. Cold and heat therapies are frequently used to reduce pain without narcotics, accelerate the body’s natural healing mechanisms and increase range of motion and muscle strength. Heat therapy promotes vasodilation and increases blood flow, while cold therapy promotes vasoconstriction and controls hemorrhage and edema.
When cold and heat therapy are used concurrently, with a fast changeover, the resulting rapid contrast therapy alternately opens and constricts the vascular system, increases blood flow, and delivers the additional benefits of heat therapy in the injured area, without causing the accumulation of additional unwanted edema.
4 things to know about rehabilitation therapy
1.Traditional methods of rapid contrast therapy require multiple cumbersome devices and a large amount of space. These methods involved, cold therapy performed via ice baths and gel packs, followed by a quick switch to heating pads or hydrocollator packs for heat therapy and so on and so forth. This process dramatically complicates healthcare provider workflow as therapists seek to simultaneously treat multiple patients following different injuries and surgeries. Significant limitations in controlling the specific temperatures of hot and cold therapies increase the risk of overcooling or overheating and make for less efficient treatment.
2. Clinics and surgeons should look for new multi-modality technologies that provide flexible treatment options for diverse injuries, post-surgery recovery, and different stages of rehabilitation. Today’s intuitive, touchscreen technologies allow physical therapists, athletic trainers, physicians and other users to easily alternate between modalities and adjust time, temperature and pressure levels.
3. Recently cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Game Ready’s Med4 Elite features Rapid Changeover Technology to go from heat at 113 degrees Fahrenheit to cold at 38 degrees Fahrenheit in less than one minute. Controlled by an intuitive touchscreen computer interface, the system integrates iceless cold, controllable heat and rapid contrast therapies – all controllable down to the degree. The device also combines four levels of intermittent compression to mimic muscle contractions and “pump” edema away from the injured area.
4. Rehabilitation tools such as Med4 Elite help achieve desired clinical outcomes and improve patient satisfaction, making for a winning combination for the quickest and highest quality recovery experience.
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