Exactly how cold am I trying to get my arm, or any other injured body part, when I put ice on it?

Usual instructions for icing joints are 10–20 minutes per session, max, several times over the course of a day. I always stopping icing my knee after 11–12 minutes because it felt so numb. And I wrapped the ice pack in several layers of toweling. 30 minutes sounds way too long

This was reinforced by the post-op instructions I received a week ago and my recent visits to PT again. They leave the ice pack on my knee for about 11 minutes.

I just found this on line.

“Watch the clock.

Ice for 15–20 minutes, but never longer. You can cause further damage to the tissues, including frostbite, by icing for too long.” Source and more tips

Well, the stuff starts melting as soon as I wrap it, so the extreme cold is only for about 5 minutes. Then I flip it around, because the other end is still frozen and do another 5 minutes. All total it’s 10 minutes of extreme cold, the other 20 is just kinda cold….

I’m frustrated because I’m trying to figure out all this stuff by myself, in spite of having seen my doctor, who referred me to a “specialist” who gave me no instruction, then seeing my Dr. again. I’m just trying to figure out what works. Getting there, I think, slowly but surely.

Thanks @gailcalled. I was actually concerned about frost bite.

Ice it until your funny bone goes, “Pffft!” (note the exclamation point!), and no longer!

Seriously, I’m guessing they gave you that wrap because it is what’s known medically as a “No Brainer”. Use it exactly as you are…it surely has built in safeguards against burn – either on the first application or re-freezing to reapply. I’d say it’s idiot proof [ ] and, since they know that, they have become lax on instruction.

(BTW. I would probably be even more annoyed about the lack of instruction than you are. For the expense incurred, they should be giving you 4 page booklets, the last “Page left blank intentionally.”

@Dutchess_III Try freezing the dry towel along with the ice pack. That way the ice pack won’t start melting as soon as it touches the towel.

If I were not getting specific enough instructions at first visit, I would ask. If not there in the office then I would call during regular office hours.

This is a part of their job. It’s what they’re getting paid the big bucks for. If they are getting sloppy about that, I would never hesitate to ask.

Any GOOD medical professional I’ve ever dealt with in any capacity NORMALLY ends each and every office visit with asking me “Are there any questions or concerns you have?”

Even if I’ve never previously asked them about anything, time after time, they will still ask because they’re being thorough. That’s what a medical professional SHOULD be doing as a matter of course. I don’t care how much of a top notch specialist they are, the good ones always do this. (and I usually let them know it’s appreciated, regardless if I have further Qs or not).

If I’m dealing with someone who doesn’t bother with this, I’ll look into the possibility of switching to someone else.

If they aren’t taking care of the minor details like this, then I wonder what else is being glossed over. I’m the type of patient who wants my Doctor to be as OCDish as possible over every little detail. There may come a day when my life depends upon it.

@Dutchess; You might be better off with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a dish towel rather than the device you are describing.

I have also bashed up ice cubes with a rolling pin and put the chips in a plastic bag wrapped in a towel.

No doctor gave the pack to me. I won it at a family reunion auction in June. You can use it either as an ice pack, or a heat pack. You can microwave it to warm it up.

@snowberry I don’t have a dry towel that I use in conjunction with the wrap. One side of the wrap has some sort of thin cloth sewn on. The other side is clear plastic. Logic would tell me to wrap it so that the cloth side is against my skin, but the clear plastic side seems to get better results because it’s a lot colder.

I’ve done the peas thing. I like the wrap better because it wraps around the whole elbow so it’s getting it from the top, the sides, and the bottom.

My concern was that using the plastic side might make it TOO cold. As I said, the first 5 minutes it’s so cold it hurts. Then, when I flip it around I endure another 5 minutes of super cold…but that seems to work best. I was just scared of doing more damage.

Another thing that is kind of influencing me are movies I’ve seen of pro athletes sitting with their elbow (or whatever) in a bucket of ice.

32 * F is when ice melts.
In order to do damage, frostbite, you need to have a much lower temperature like ten degrees colder. The plastic side can’t be any colder than the cloth side, they are attached. The plastic side just feels colder because the cloth side acts as a insulator so the heat in your arm is not leaving as fast.

Thanks.