Polar Active Ice 3.0 Cold Therapy Ice Machine System with Programmable Timer, Hand and Wrist Compression Pad, Lightweight 16 Quart Cooler, Quiet Pump, Strong Cryotherapy Pain Relief and Treatment

We have used this at least a couple dozen evenings post shoulder surgery. We fill it with 11 or 12 frozen sparkling ice bottles, then a gallon and a third or so of water (leave 10-15 percent air in your bottles before freezing). We did not need to have on hand more bottles to change out because the 11 bottles stay cold for hours, easily lasting 4 or 5 on/off cycles, maybe more. The nice touches are: the suitcase-style telescoping handle to wheel it around, the quiet operation, the simple and effective duty cycle and flow-rate control. I worried initially about the hose connections leaking, but they are stout and have never leaked at all. I put some silicone grease on the o-rings just for extra presumed longevity, but nothing told me to do that and it probably is not needed. The therapy pads I worried about as well, but they do not leak either, in our experience. We did find some condensation might be present after a few cycles at the end of the evening. We bought the shoulder and arm therapy pad to use with this (as well as the shoulder-focused pad), and we found that the shoulder and arm therapy pad works a tad more effectively for the surgery (rotator cuff repair and bicep tenodesis) we were addressing because it was the bicep that hurt more than the top of shoulder, and the shoulder and arm pad can very effectively address both. We found that putting a washcloth between the pad and the clothed shoulder was a good way to avoid getting areas too cold that one isn't trying to address. We found that with the shoulder and arm therapy pad, flow rate 2 (out of max 4) was generally adequate. This is a good bargain -- it's a tad expensive, but we found no unexpected difficulties, no kinks, bugs, etc -- apparently any such have long been worked out by the company. I just bought the small lower back pad and the foot/bootie pad, so we're sold as far as those sorts of things go. This was proven to reduce pain levels considerably, especially good in the first week, and further to lessen the amount of pain meds to take.

I just had a knee replacement on the 6th of December and so many people recommended the Active Ice Cold Therapy System. Upon getting home from surgery, I was sent with some ice packs that didn't stay frozen very long and provided little to no relief.The cold therapy system was delivered the next day. All I can say is game changer!! It's super easy to use, has a timer, and you can control the temperature of how cold you want it. I recommend using frozen water bottles to stay in the cooler so you don't have to change out the water once it starts warming up.I use the wrap before PT, after PT and throughout the day as needed. I can easily use the ice wrap with my compression sleeves while relaxing. My swelling has gone down significantly and my range of motion is increasing even after only 3 days of PT. I'm so grateful the system works so well and keeps my discomfort down significantly.

My wife says when the ice therapy comes on …it’s like HEAVEN !! She had both knees replaced… yes both !I’m not sure we could’ve survived without the Polar ice therapy. Knee surgery is very painful. But , this cold therapy is simple, quick and effective. Just set your timer and it works throughout the night perfectly. We highly suggest the use of frozen water bottles, that way you don’t have to pour out any water from melting ice. This companies customer service is very good, quick to answer any questions. It is built to very high quality standards… Well worth the cost!!

I am so thankful a friend told me about ice therapy machines. I chose the 16qt Polar because of other reviews. Also knowing that I would be solo, the wheels made it easy to roll it to the freezer post surgery.The instruction manual needs some refinement though. I use frozen water bottles and the water fill line is for the use of ice. There’s nothing that indicates a fill level when using bottles. The manual does not make this clear. After two weeks I finally realized I could fill it directly below the discharge spout after placing the water bottles inside. That increased the usage time to about 12 hours where as before I was only getting 5 or 6 before needing to swap out water bottles.So far this has also been durable. For three weeks now it has been running almost nonstop. The integrated timer is great. You can set each cycle independently, for example to be on for 30 mins and off for 20 mins, in increments of 10. I even wear it throughout the night when trying to sleep. It has drastically decreased my pain levels and made it easy to adhere to an icing regimen. It is not cheap but totally worth every penny. You can buy pads for other parts of the body too. Some reviews have commented that it’s loud. It’s not loud to me, especially once I had the correct amount of water in it.