Airaksinen O, Kolari PJ, Miettinen H.
Elastic bandages and intermittent pneumatic compression for treatment of acute
ankle sprains.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1990 May;71(6):380-3

Department of PM&R, Kuopio University Central Hospital, Finland.

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.