Muscle, Skin and Core Temperature after −110°C Cold Air and 8°C Water Treatment

PLOS ONE, Dec 2019

The aim of this investigation was to elucidate the reductions in muscle, skin and core temperature following exposure to −110°C whole body cryotherapy (WBC), and compare these to 8°C cold water immersion (CWI). Twenty active male subjects were randomly assigned to a 4-min exposure of WBC or CWI. A minimum of 7 days later subjects were exposed to the other treatment. Muscle temperature in the right vastus lateralis (n = 10); thigh skin (average, maximum and minimum) and rectal temperature (n = 10) were recorded before and 60 min after treatment. The greatest reduction (P<0.05) in muscle (mean ± SD; 1 cm: WBC, 1.6±1.2°C; CWI, 2.0±1.0°C; 2 cm: WBC, 1.2±0.7°C; CWI, 1.7±0.9°C; 3 cm: WBC, 1.6±0.6°C; CWI, 1.7±0.5°C) and rectal temperature (WBC, 0.3±0.2°C; CWI, 0.4±0.2°C) were observed 60 min after treatment. The largest reductions in average (WBC, 12.1±1.0°C; CWI, 8.4±0.7°C), minimum (WBC, 13.2±1.4°C; CWI, 8.7±0.7°C) and maximum (WBC, 8.8±2.0°C; CWI, 7.2±1.9°C) skin temperature occurred immediately after both CWI and WBC (P<0.05). Skin temperature was significantly lower (P<0.05) immediately after WBC compared to CWI. The present study demonstrates that a single WBC exposure decreases muscle and core temperature to a similar level of those experienced after CWI. Although both treatments significantly reduced skin temperature, WBC elicited a greater decrease compared to CWI. These data may provide information to clinicians and researchers attempting to optimise WBC and CWI protocols in a clinical or sporting setting.

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Muscle, Skin and Core Temperature after −110°C Cold Air and 8°C Water Treatment

Citation: Costello JT, Culligan K, Selfe J, Donnelly AE ( Muscle, Skin and Core Temperature after 21106C Cold Air and 86C Water Treatment Joseph Thomas Costello 0 Kevin Culligan 0 James Selfe 0 Alan Edward Donnelly 0 Alejandro Lucia, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain 0 1 Centre for Physical Activity and Health Research, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick , Castletroy, Limerick, Ireland , 2 Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology , Kelvin Grove, Queensland , Australia , 3 Department of Surgery, Mid-Western Regional Hospital , Dooradoyle, County Limerick, Ireland , 4 Department of Allied Health Professions, University of Central Lancashire , Preston Lancashire , United Kingdom The aim of this investigation was to elucidate the reductions in muscle, skin and core temperature following exposure to 2110uC whole body cryotherapy (WBC), and compare these to 8uC cold water immersion (CWI). Twenty active male subjects were randomly assigned to a 4-min exposure of WBC or CWI. A minimum of 7 days later subjects were exposed to the other treatment. Muscle temperature in the right vastus lateralis (n = 10); thigh skin (average, maximum and minimum) and rectal temperature (n = 10) were recorded before and 60 min after treatment. The greatest reduction (P,0.05) in muscle (mean 6 SD; 1 cm: WBC, 1.661.2uC; CWI, 2.061.0uC; 2 cm: WBC, 1.260.7uC; CWI, 1.760.9uC; 3 cm: WBC, 1.660.6uC; CWI, 1.760.5uC) and rectal temperature (WBC, 0.360.2uC; CWI, 0.460.2uC) were observed 60 min after treatment. The largest reductions in average (WBC, 12.161.0uC; CWI, 8.460.7uC), minimum (WBC, 13.261.4uC; CWI, 8.760.7uC) and maximum (WBC, 8.862.0uC; CWI, 7.261.9uC) skin temperature occurred immediately after both CWI and WBC (P,0.05). Skin temperature was significantly lower (P,0.05) immediately after WBC compared to CWI. The present study demonstrates that a single WBC exposure decreases muscle and core temperature to a similar level of those experienced after CWI. Although both treatments significantly reduced skin temperature, WBC elicited a greater decrease compared to CWI. These data may provide information to clinicians and researchers attempting to optimise WBC and CWI protocols in a clinical or sporting setting. - Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) is a treatment involving very short exposures to extreme cold, and is growing in popularity amongst athletes and coaches [1,2,3]. Most WBC protocols repeatedly expose minimally dressed individuals to extremely cold dry air (2110uC to 2140uC) in an environmentally controlled room for a short duration of time (24 min) [4]. Although the use of cryotherapy or therapeutic tissue cooling is a common form of treatment dating back to ancient Greece [5], WBC is a relatively novel modality of cryotherapy. The first WBC chamber was built in Japan in the late 1970s, but it was only introduced to Europe in 1982 and America in the last decade [6]. A range of claims, based around these thermoregulatory responses, have been made about the benefits of WBC. Currently, the evidence base supporting these claims is extremely limited [4]. Studies examining WBC are traditionally limited, in terms of quality and statistical power, or published in non-English literature. Initial WBC studies have reported a reduction in creatine kinase activity after training [7,8], total oxidative status in plasma [9] as well as an increase in the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 [10] and IL-6 [9,10]. Hausswirth and colleagues [2] have recently reported that three WBC sessions accelerated recovery from exercise induced muscle damage (EIMD), but it has also been shown that WBC administered 24 h after eccentric exercise, is ineffective in alleviating muscle soreness or enhancing muscle force recovery [1]. Despite the increasing popularity and use of WBC in sports medicine, randomised controlled studies regarding its efficacy are sparse [4]. Presently, clinicians and sporting organizations are exposing individuals to these extreme temperatures based on anecdotal evidence and very little is known regarding its effectiveness or the physiological changes that occur during or after the treatment [1]. Similarly, despite its widespread adoption in an attempt to alleviate some of the physiologic and functional deficits associated with EIMD and to treat some clinical conditions, the use of cold water immersion (CWI) remains controversial owing in part to the lack of data regarding underlying mechanisms [11,12]. Although there is much confusion around how much cooling is clinically adequate the basic premise of cryotherapy is to cool injured or damaged tissue [13]. Previous research has demonstrated the mechanisms that underpin CWI such as reductions in blood flow and muscle, skin and core temperature [11] but currently there is a paucity of published research [14,15] addressing the thermodynamics of WBC. Furthermore, as thermal conductance in water can be as (...truncated)


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Joseph Thomas Costello, Kevin Culligan, James Selfe, Alan Edward Donnelly. Muscle, Skin and Core Temperature after −110°C Cold Air and 8°C Water Treatment, PLOS ONE, 2012, Volume 7, Issue 11, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048190