Wearable long duration postoperative topical cryotherapy for enhanced pain management

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the Department of Health and Human Services awarded Cryo Ergonomics Inc. $312,823 on August 17, 2026, under the Research and Training in Complementary and Integrative Health program (CFDA 93.213) to design and prototype a wearable long-duration topical cryotherapy system for postoperative pain management on the human trunk.

The project will produce computer-aided design simulations and physical prototypes of a lightweight, ergonomic cooling module and human-device interface intended to deliver therapeutic temperatures at the skin surface for multi-week continuous use. Prototype units meeting therapeutic benchmarks will be reproduced in a quantity of ten. The work addresses the clinical gap in multimodal pain management post-surgery, where over 40 percent of surgical procedures involve the trunk and current standard cryotherapy (bagged ice) is unsuitable for extended pain mitigation. The project will not conduct testing on human or animal subjects; rather, parametric studies via simulation and physical prototyping will guide design selection toward achieving therapeutic endpoints.

Cryo Ergonomics Inc., based in Belmont, Massachusetts, performs the work under a period of performance ending July 31, 2027. The assistance type is a Project Grant, which indicates Phase I SBIR funding supporting feasibility and prototype development.

Abstract

And abstract more than 600K deaths in the US and canada have been attributed to opioids since 1999, which continue to present a significant public health threat. Surgery is a key triggering event to introduce opioids to patients, which can lead to long-term dependency. Of the 51.4 million surgeries performed yearly in the US, >3 million previously opioid-naïve patients continue to fill opioid prescriptions past 3 months post-operation every year. This outcome highlights there are not sufficiently effective multimodal pain treatments in practice post-surgery to reduce the need for opioids. Topical cryotherapy is a historically proven method of pain management, but for the >40% of surgeries on the human trunk, the standard of care is still bagged ICE, which is not conducive to long-term pain mitigation. The proposed work sets out to design and build a long- duration, radically ergonomic topical cryotherapy system that can deliver pain relief while supporting effective enhanced recovery after surgery (eras) protocols. This system will be designed specifically for the human trunk, where patients may not be able to use continuous cold water cryotherapy devices. By leveraging advancements in industrial cooling technologies and consumer electronics, a lightweight, minimal-hassle system is envisioned for continuous multi- week usage to reduce the need for pharmaceutical pain interventions. While this project will not conduct cryotherapy on humans or animals, computer aided design simulations will complement physical prototyping in conducting parametric studies designed to achieve therapeutic temperatures at the human skin. The cooling module and human-device interface will be simulated and then prototyped where final designs will be selected based on performance. Prototype units found to achieve therapeutic benchmarks will be reproduced in a quantity of 10 to establish consistency of the findings. The specific aims are to (1) design and build units to demonstrate concept feasibility, (2) characterize system performance in terms of temperatures, duration, and ergonomic factors, and (3) prepare documentation for future manufacturing.