Day 12 Post OP - ICE & REST…..???
Posted on October 11, 2008 by dazf
I keep reading people who mention Ice and rest, Ok, I understand the rest side of things bit not the ICE? I am nearly two weeks post op and i have a half cast on my leg that runs down the back of my leg, under my heel to my toes.
My confusion here is how can you possibly ice your leg when its in plaster? Or are people referring to icing treatment once there plaster cast is off?
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dazf: The ice comments are probably more about rehab although as soon as you get a boot maybe before rehab officially starts, icing might be good then too. When I go to rehab, I do my exercises (ha, if you can call them exercises) then I get iced before I leave. With this injury I have heard of people having pefectly normal swelling at 6-9 months so ice becomes your best friend.
My physio was pleased to hear that my consultant had said that icing was not going to have any benefit. Will ask her next time why she thinks that icing is not necessary. She has said that contrast bathing (hot then cold water) would help swelling.
Dazf,
If your cast is fiberglass, like mine was, you can still ice it and feel the cooling effect. Using bags of peas wrapped in towells is how I iced my cast and it provided a lot of relief. You can also ice the front and back of your knee which will cool the blood flowing to your ankle. Good luck….
I’d leave the ice bit till out of cast !. Hope our beloved NHS is looking after you OK ?
Just wonder how the treatment plans and costs/insurance issues affect our American cousins? !!
Good luck to you , think the ice is more important when regaining mobility out of cast and to deal with the inevitable swelling as you start to get going.
Mark
I am a U.S. cousin. I have decent health insurance. I got to choose my doctor (out of a large group). I got to choose my hospital or surgery site and I also got to choose when surgery happened (with in the time allowed for by the injury). My actually surgery cost me $100 but if you include all of the prescriptions and doctor visits before and after I will probably pay around $300 total. This includes all of the casts, bandages, and boots. My insurance also sent me a wheel chair to use for a couple of months (which I’ve only used once). Physical Therapy is a different beast. That would cost me $30 per visit and you all know how many visits we usually have. I don’t like our (insurance) PT group so I went self pay at a different group (first surgery). I should have been charged $60 per visit there but the PT is a friend of mine so I didn’t have to pay that. I am doing the PT myself because this is my second surgery, just went through it all 2 years ago, and I am a trainer so I have a few ideas of my own (scary!) There are some people I know of over here that have better insurance than I do. But obviously there are a lot of people I know that have worse or none. I happened to see the bill (not what we paid) that my insurance company was presented with over my first surgery and just the hospital charges (no doctor charges) came to around $28,000. I have not yet seen any totals for my second surgery. How much does all of this cost in the UK?
I too have had Achilles repair surgery recently but I did not have a cast. I had a very thick dressing and was put into a boot that was removeable for sleep. Ice was possible to use then. Not all patients have casts.
Not all patients who have this kind of surgery have casts. I just had it done 5 weeks ago. I had a debridement and grafting with a very thick dressing and a boot that was removeable during sleep or when sitting with the foot elevated. Ice was possible.
Thanks All for your comments, I really appreciate it.
Wonderful article. I been looking for one on a similar note. I guess you always have something up your sleeve.