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Current Biology, August 2006; Vol 16, pp. 1591-1605; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.07.061; Clare Proudfoot, Emer Garry, David Cottrell, Roberta Rosie, Heather Anderson, Darren Robertson, Susan Fleetwood-Walker, and Rory Mitchell Abstract Content:  Chronic established pain, especially that following nerve injury, is difficult to treat and represents a largely unmet therapeutic need. New insights are urgently required, and we reasoned that endogenous processes such as cooling-induced analgesia may point the way to novel strategies for intervention. Molecular receptors for cooling have been identified in sensory nerves, and we demonstrate how activation of one of these, TRPM8, produces profound, mechanistically novel analgesia in chronic pain states.

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2000; 34: pp. 382-384; doi: 10.1136/bjsm.34.5.382; Colin A Graham, James Stevenson Abstract Content:  A severe case of frostbite injury to the right foot is presented. This was caused by the inappropriate application of a bag of frozen chips to the foot in an attempt to ease non-specific pain. No specific acute traumatic injury was identified. As the patient was a teacher of physical education, the pain had initially been assumed to originate from a minor musculoskeletal injury. Full recovery ensured after surgical excision of necrotic tissue and split skin grafting. The danger of inappropriate over-enthusiastic use...

Journal of Orthopedic Sports Physical Therapy, April 1994; 19(4): pp. 197-199; doi: 10.2519/jospt.1994.19.4.197 Weston M, Taber C, Casagranda L, Cornwall M; NovaCare Inc., Sacramento, CA Abstract Content:  The purpose of this study was to measure change in local blood volume during application of a cold gel pack following inversion sprain of the ankle. Fifteen volunteers participated as subjects (age range: 18-46 years, mean age: 22.2 years). A bilateral tetrapolar impedance plethysmograph was used with venous occlusion to measure the change in local limb volume at the ankle over a 20-minute period during two conditions: at rest and with cold gel pack application....

The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery, September 2002, Volume 18, Issue 7, pp 748-754; doi.org/10.1053/jars.2002.32835; Daryl C. Osbahr B.S., Patrick W. Cawley D. Sc., P.P.A., R.T. and Kevin P. Speer, M.D. Abstract Content:  The objective of this investigation was to determine the effect of continuous cryotherapy on glenohumeral joint and subacromial space temperatures in the postoperative shoulder. Type of Study: Prospective, randomized, and controlled clinical trial. Methods: Twenty patients (10 cryotherapy, 10 controls) with a full-thickness rotator cuff repair were monitored with temperature sensors in the glenohumeral joint and subacromial space of the shoulder for 23 postoperative hours. Statistical analysis (P < .05) was performed using the...

Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, March 2000, 92(3): pp. 699-707; Irina A. Strigo, B.Sc., Franco Carli, M.D., M. Catherine Bushnell, Ph.D. Abstract Content:  The sensation of pain is dependent on many factors, including the strength of the noxious stimulus, state of the organism, and environmental variables. One variable that may be important in nociceptive processing is environmental temperature. Extremely cold or hot environmental temperatures produce an opioid-mediated stress-produced analgesia (see Bodnar et al.  for review). 1 Several studies have also shown that moderately cool environmental temperatures also produce an antinociceptive effect in animals. These animal studies suggest that human pain perception...