Cold therapy and its effect on procedural pain in children

A quasi-experimental design was used to determine if cold therapy decreased the perceived pain associated with intramuscular injections in children. A convenience sample of 40 children aged 10 to 18 years was randomly assigned to the control or experimental group. The experimental group had an ice pack placed on the injection site for 15 min prior to injection, whereas the control group received injections according to hospital protocol. Ice was not shown to be significant in reducing procedural pain; however, distraction and parental support were effective.