Experience From - Gisli , Unknown#1 , Unknown#2 , Suzanne Williams ,
You may have heard this one before but when my knee is especially sore after a looong run i grab a bag of frozen beans from the freezer and put it on the knee. It sort of moulds around the knee and the feeling is rather nice. After 20 min or so i feel great.
You all may have heard this one before as well.
I bought an ice bag, with screw top lid, and added 1 bottle (16 ounces?) of sopropanol, better known as rubbing alcohol. It has been so long since I made this I can't remember the exact amount of water to add. I've used the same alcohol/water/bag for 6 years. Fill the empty alcohol bottle with water and add it to the ice bag and alcohol. Place it in the freezer overnight.
Check the consistency of the contents. What you are looking for is something like a hard slush. You should be able to crush it between your hands. If it's too hard let it melt and add a little more alcohol to the bag. If it's a liquid add more water. With a little work you'll have an ice bag that easily and quickly can be formed around your knee or what ever ails you. It feels more comfortable than a frozen pea bag and will form better around joints. This stuff is cold !!! I have to wrap it in a shirt or towel because it is too cold for my skin. I've used it for up to an hour before I noticed the coolness begin to subside. Someone on the list may have the exact recipe for what I've tried to describe.
The bag is about $6-7. Its a cloth bag with an inner rubber core. The alcohol was about $1. So for less than $10 you can have an ice bag that lasts for years and once you have the contents just right you won't have to open it up again.
The exact recipe is 3 parts water and 1 part rubbing alcohol. I keep several heavy-duty ziplock bags with this mixture in the freezer. I use an old flannel pillowcase as a cover. Sometimes I lay down and put one bag under each leg, and one over each leg, and "inch them up" every 10 minutes or so starting from the ankles and all the way up to quads and hamstrings. Very refreshing after a long hard run!
I have been plagued with bad knees for years (two knee surgeries on left knee) - I have found that what seems to work best for me is ice in a cup placed directly on the knee. You can either freeze water in a dixie cup or buy a plastic cup in a sports supply store used specifically for this purpose. Rub the ice directly on the skin for about 20 minutes until it feels slightly numb. You need to get the area very cold, especially when there is swelling involved, and this is the fastest and most direct way.