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With A name like Hyperice you’d think this was a Nike Basketball shoe..

So I have a bout of perroneal tendonitis (translation, tendinitis in my ankle that is behind the big outer ankle bone). It is from overuse and having flat feet (and age of course). I’ve owned various wraps and ice packs but got really tired of wrapping my ankles up with ice packs and redoing it over and over so I decided to bite the bullet and try the Hyperice Utility due to some positive recs from my doctor and PT friends. 

The model I purchased is the Utiliy which is meant for smallish body parts like elbows, ankles, shins, wrists etc. It is pricy for an ice pack at $60 bucks on Amazon but damn, it is well worth it. I’ve seen it at Sports Authority’s website as well for $50 plus tax so I wonder I’m pretty sure coupon codes will work for it as well.

  
As I stated earlier I’ve tried different types of wraps in the past wth gel packs in a neoprene sleeve or ice wrapped around my ankle with medical bandages. In my experience the gel packs stay cold for about 5 minutes and lose their effectiveness in that same time therefore not really doing its job as efficiently as it could. Using medical bandages sucks bc half the time the gel packs squeeze out the sides. 

  Very time consuming and ineffiecient way of icing.

  
The real star of this device is ice pack itself.  I can ice four body parts at 20 minutes each and still have ice cold ice. 

  
The ice pack is the perfect thickness between comfort and efficiency; it isn’t searing cold like when you place a bag of ice in a ziplock on your ankle but it isn’t underdone like when you place towel over a ziplock of ice. I’ve dunked my foot in an ice bath before which is the best method by far but it is so uncomfortable and time consuming since you can’t walk anywhere (or ice anything else other than feet and ankles).  

  
The other ingenious part of the ice pack is the air release valve. Push that little button and all the excess air gets released so all that’s left is pure cold ice on your body. 

Before releasing air   
After releasing air

For me, I’ve found that having the wrap upside down works best for my ankles: 

As you can see, the Hyperice also provides compression while being iced which is half of RICE therapy (Rest Ice Compression Elevation)

Although the utility is for smaller body parts in actually able to get it to fit on my knees which is awesome bc now I don’t have to buy the knee compression.  I have fairly thick quads but smallish knees. Here is a money shot for reference

   This also allows me to rotate from ankle to knee to knee back to ankle.

Hyperice on my knee.   

CONCLUSION

The price gave me pause but I’m extremely happy I made the purchase. I started using the Hyperice 8 days ago and I went from swollen and limping badly to no swelling and walking normally again.  I was able to ice my ankle and knees about four to five times a day because it was so convenient to fill it with crushes ice and just put it on. The company sells synthetic ice that I’m planning on trying in the future but regular crushed ice has worked great for me this far. It’s versatility was a pleasant surprise since I have some minor knee aches as well.  The ice bag really keeps the ice cold without the pain typically associated with ice to skin contact. If you’ve got aches and pains, I really suggest trying the Hyperice, it is a perfect blend of form and function.