Continuous-flow cryocompression therapy penetrates to bone level in hip fracture patients in a numerical simulation

The aim of this study was to define deep tissue temperature during cryotherapy in postoperative hip fracture patients, by using measured skin temperature as input parameter for a simple numerical model. Second, an association was investigated between pain and tissue temperature distribution, to assess cryotherapy-induced analgesia of soft tissue-derived pain.

Data from 35 participants in an ongoing trial was used. In three subjects who consented on optional measurements, skin temperature was measured in 3 days during and after cryotherapy. A simple numerical model was developed to calculate tissue temperature distribution during cryotherapy.

Inter and intrasubject skin temperature displayed high variation: trochanter 11-27 °C, mid-femur 11-24 °C, distal femur 10-16 °C. Predicted temperatures decreased to 20 °C at 1 cm, 26 °C at 2 cm, and 30 °C at 3 cm tissue depth. Smallest soft tissue layer was measured at the trochanter; 42% had less than 30 mm and 21% had less than 20 mm. Numeric rating scale pain varied (mean = 2.14; SD = 1.92), and no association was found between pain and decrease in temperature (r = 0.064; p = 0.204).

Cryotherapy was predicted to reduce temperature up to 3 cm; in cachectic patients, this reaches the bone, where it might have implications for bone tissue healing when treated for a prolonged period of time. Cryotherapy-induced analgesia is likely to originate from skin analgesia rather than analgesia of muscle or bone-derived pain.