PENETRATION OF CRYOTHERAPY IN TREATMENT AFTER SHOULDER ARTHROSCOPY

Fifteen patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopy had indwelling temper ature probes placed in the glenohumeral and subacromial spaces. All sh oulders underwent diagnostic arthroscopy and debridement of the subacr omial space. Cryotherapy was delivered to the shoulder via a Cryo/Cuff (AirCast, Summit, NJ) and temperatures were monitored for 90 minutes. Ten shoulders received cryotherapy and 5 were used as controls. Befor e cryotherapy, temperatures averaged 34 degrees C in the glenohumeral joint and 31 degrees C in the subacromial space. No significant differ ence was seen between the temperatures recorded in the cold therapy an d control groups for either the glenohumeral or subacromial space. In all cases, the subacromial space averaged 1 degrees cooler than the gl enohumeral joint at the conclusion of arthroscopy. These slowly equali zed to an average of 35 degrees postoperatively. The present study sho ws that surface-applied cryotherapy does not penetrate either the glen ohumeral joint or the subacromial space. Attention must be turned else where to delineate how cryotherapy works.