By Joseph Hamad
From Frozen Kids’ Treat to Inside-Cast Relief: The CastPack
In the words of Plato, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. This is the story of the CastPack™, a novel and innovative cold therapy device designed to alleviate the suffering caused by the placement of casts.
In 2020, like many middle-aged weekend warrior athletes, I jumped into a competitive pick-up game of basketball, without warming up or stretching. Then, as I lunged for a loose ball, POP! What felt like a baseball bat to the back of the leg was a fully ruptured Achilles tendon. A few days later I was a post-operative patient fit with a medical cast around my foot, ankle, and calf.
Soon after, as with virtually all casted patients, came the pain, the swelling, and the itching. To this day, patients are prescribed 2 options to relieve symptoms: pain relieving medications (typically narcotics) and cold therapy application to the cast exterior. The former may curb pain but come with well-known side effects and potential for addiction. The latter is simply ineffective, as the cast is too thick to allow for the cooling effects to reach the skin.
While in a cast and unwilling to take pain medications, I was desperate to find a solution mostly for the severe pain and itching. The proverbial light bulb went off when giving my 5-year-old daughter a frozen ice pop. Although I don’t endorse this, I slid 3 ice pops down my cast and the rest was history. Gone was the itching. The pain and swelling reduced significantly. Medications went to the trash bin and the idea of the CastPack was born.
Simply put, it is a reuseable cold pack placed into a freezer and once frozen, inserted between the cast’s inner lining and the skin. Suggested use is icing for 20 minutes every 2 hours. Doing so allows for the well-known benefits of cold therapy to be experienced by casted patients, directly to the affected body part. Patients who do not have normal skin sensation (eg, paraplegia, diabetes, or neuropathy) should check with their doctors before using.
To avoid direct contact between the cold therapeutic device and the skin, a cloth sleeve is used as a barrier. The cloth sleeve also acts to absorb any small amount of moisture/condensation that can result and should be used every time. Once cold therapy is complete, the CastPack can be safely removed by pulling out the cast using the looped end.
This simple yet elegant solution to a universal problem can not only provide safe and immediate relief from annoying symptoms, but also help reduce dependence upon and potential addiction to pharmacological treatment options.
CastPack is proud to announce it has been formally granted a US Patent. So, to achieve fast and wide market penetration, we are looking for manufacturing partner licensing agreements. Please contact me for more information.
a) CastPack. b) CastPack slides between the skin and the cast. c) Close-up shows cloth sleeve with CastPack in position. d) CastPack loop top enables easy removal from cast.
Joseph Hamad is a floor covering professional in central Pennsylvania. With more than 22 years in floor coverings, he has experience in retail, commercial, new home construction, and multi-family.
For more information about the product, visit
cast-pack.com.
Inventor’s Corner is an occasional feature that highlights the development of products relevant to LER readers. Our goal is to highlight the inherent creativity and perseverance of the inventors in their product development journey. To nominate a product for consideration, please complete the Inventor’s Corner Nomination Form. Please note the views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Lower Extremity Review.
