Cold Therapy Machine by Polar Vortex - Ice Circulation System with Large Adjustable Cuff for Knee, Shoulder, Ankle, Neck Pain and Recovery After Surgery – Cold Water Therapy Kit w/Pump

I have actually never written a product review before but always use them for behind the scene information on a product. I purchased this for my knee replacement surgery. I had it about two weeks before my surgery but did not try it until 2 days before. There was a small leak at a connection point but I did not have time to return it. I have used it at least 5 X per day since surgery and am 2 weeks post op with excellent results, relief, plus it no longer leaks. I really feel this has helped to progress me more rapidly to decrease inflammation. I highly recommend the tip of using 4 frozen water bottles in it with water to fill line to cut down on ice use. I just keep rotating 4/4 bottles and it works perfectly.

As soon as this arrived this morning, I couldn't wait to start using it. Just had Surgery earlier this week and had this thing wrapped up around my knee, just above the cast. It cooled my lower leg quickly. Setting the thing up was very easy and instructions were very simple. The hose was heavy duty and not very flexible. It came with 2 Velcro wraps with different lengths to wrap around different body parts. the Velcro was even able to stick to one side of the padding to help keep the cooling pad locked in place. The hose connection to the cooling pad was not adjustable so when trying to cool behind my knee, as my doctor said I should, it was difficult to find a good path for the hose. After several uses today, and how well it cooled my leg, I thought this thing was amazing. But then it happened. And then it happened, because of the lack of flexibility of the hose and where the hose connects to the cooling pad, the couplings for the tank hose and the cooling pad hose started leaking. It leaked all over my cast forcing me to go to Urgent Care to get the wound cleaned up and a new cast put on. If they could just fix the flexibility issues, this thing would be an easy 5 Stars.

Insurance doesn’t cover this machine. I can’t imagine why not, it is amazing post surgery. Cut my pain to the point I was off meds within 48 hours. This system is fairly water tight. You can disconnect the attachment from the machine and provided it’s been off with a chance to drain for a few minutes you only end up with a few drops of water coming out. It’s sized really nicely. You can buy a bunch (12 is good) 12oz water bottles. Soak the labels off and freeze them. Put 4-5 in the machine with the water to the full line and switch them out every 2 hours. This saves tremendously on the need for ice. The pump is quiet (if it’s not quiet check the water level) and it goes for hours. Because it’s not actually ice I was able to leave this on nonstop with no skin irritation/ harm.I am currently using it to cut down on inflammation caused by PT.

This is a 2nd polar care. Loaned my 1st one to a friend that had knee surgery. Then hubby needed it but friend still using 1st. Works well for both persons. Will recommend especially if use as directions say

Easy set up, you can’t go wrong with something that works so well. Attach the ice park to the hose, plug into the wall (don’t plug it into the square yet though, you’ll want to fill it first), fill the whole thing with ice, add cold water to the full line, cover, plug it in. Wrap yourself up, flip the switch, set your timer. Dump when your done, disconnect hose and pad over sink (it will drip).It’s easy! IT’S SILENTTTTT!!!! No joke. I’ve had one before I bought this for my dog after his ACL surgery. We massage, walk, then ice. Doesn’t bother him at all! The whole family is begging me to use it.Get it!

Super cold and works great!!Granted he needs to wrap up, as he's freezing after 20 minutes on. Ice in water last 4-5 hours. We set it up after PT is finished 8-10am. Then replace the ice later in the afternoon 3-5pm. By then he has been up and moving around and gets sore. We purchased this product the middle of week 1 s/p total hip replacement. VERY IMPORTANT to set a timer. Too long and frost bite can occur!! Would by this again. He will have other hip replaced in 3 months. So for us, very much worth the purchase price. Not sure I would give up frozen peas if he only did 1

It worked for the first 7 days. Then, the motor started making loud sounds and it wouldn’t pump the water through. Called customer support for company and also emailed them. Was told they would ship a new one and it’s now been 9 days with no new machine - meanwhile, my husband and I are juggling ice packs for his total knee replacement surgery AND Amazon won’t take it back either. Very disappointed and frustrated- think it should be removed from even being an option to buy. Hoping we can get a full refund from the company but as of yet, no replacement machine and no reply to request for refund. Do NOT recommend product at all.

So it would be great I guess if I had an ice maker or something because I didn't realize I needed ice in order for this get cold. I thought it had some cooling element in it that would make it cold. I see that the water is just fed through the tubing and into the pad which allows cold water to circulate. Again, this would be great if I had constant ice availability because I would use it all the time. In my case, I would have to buy a bag of ice every time I want to use it. A little inconvenient compared to just using an ice pack.