Elastic bandages and intermittent pneumatic compression for treatment of acute ankle sprains.

The efficacy of elastic bandage alone and with intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) treatments in the rehabilitation of 44 acute ankle sprains was studied. Lower-leg dysfunction was assessed by measurements of edema, degree of ankle motion, pain, and limb dysfunction when the patient was first included in the study, after treatment for one week, and after a four-week follow-up. For all the parameters studied, elastic bandage with IPC treatment resulted in highly significantly (p less than 0.001) faster rehabilitation during the four-week follow-up than did elastic bandage treatment alone. The limb dysfunction improved significantly (p less than 0.01) during the follow-up on the study group receiving IPC with elastic bandage compared to elastic bandage alone. The results suggest that IPC treatment is effective in acute posttraumatic therapy.