A pneumatic pump — also called an intermittent pneumatic compression pump — is a machine that has an inflatable sleeve or vest-like garment attached to it, with multiple chambers (like balloons) that inflate one after the other to stimulate the flow of lymph in the right direction.

Depending on the type of pump used, this would either mean sitting up or lying down. For pumping the arm, you would sit upright in a chair next to the pump and insert your arm into the sleeve, which looks like an arm-length blood pressure cuff. For the chest, or trunk, you may be sitting up or lying down depending on the make of the compression garment, which is like a vest or jacket. Then you would switch on the pump for pumping sessions that could last up to an hour.

Pneumatic compression pumps are proposed as a treatment option for patients with lymphedema who have failed conservative measures. They are also proposed to supplement standard of care for patients with venous ulcers. A variety of pumps are available; they can be single chamber (non-segmented) or multi-chamber (segmented) and have varying design and complexity.

Pneumatic compression devices consist of an inflatable garment for the arm, leg, trunk, or chest and an electrical pneumatic pump that fills the garment with compressed air. The garment is intermittently inflated and deflated with cycle times and pressures that vary between devices.

Cold lasers are handheld devices and are often the size of a flashlight. The laser is placed directly over the injured area for 30 seconds to several minutes, depending on the size of the area being treated and the dose provided by the cold laser unit.

During this time, the non-thermal photons of light that are emitted from the laser pass through the skins layers (the dermis, epidermis, and the subcutaneous tissue or tissue fat under the skin). This light has the ability to penetrate 2 to 5 centimeters below the skin at 90mw and 830 nm.

Once the light energy passes through the layers of skin and reaches the target area, it is absorbed and interacts with the light sensitive elements in the cell. When cells absorb this light energy, it initiates a series of events in the cell that is theorized to eventually result in normalizing damaged or injured tissue, a reduction in pain, inflammation, edema and an overall reduction in healing time by increasing intracellular metabolism.