The effect of cold therapy on the postoperative course of total hip and knee arthroplasty patients

Fifty total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients and 24 total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients were randomized in a controlled study to examine the effects of cold therapy (via thermal blankets) in the postoperative period. The postoperative hospital stay was significantly shorter for the cold-therapy (50 degrees F) compared with control (70 degrees F) groups (by 1.4 days, P = 0.03) for THA patients. There was a similar but nonsignificant trend observed in the TKA groups (1.5 days shorter, P = 0.19). Total knee arthroplasty patients using cold therapy achieved independent ambulation an average of 1 day sooner than TKA control patients, but this difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.08). There were no statistically significant differences between the control groups or the test groups for both THA and TKA patients in narcotic usage, postoperative range-of-motion (ROM), or rate of progression of ROM.