Costello, J. T., &Donnelly, A. E. (June 03, 2010). Whole-body cryotherapy reduces isometric force, knee proprioception, and tympanic temperature. Presentation 2158 at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; June 2-5.

This study investigated the effects of whole-Body cryotherapy on maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the right knee extensors, force proprioception, knee-joint position sense, and tympanic temperature. Ss (M = 10; F = 2) were assessed in a seated position with the knee flexed at an angle of 90°. The highest recorded force was used for analysis. S's ability to match 25% and 50% of their maximal voluntary isometric contraction was recorded (with and without visual feedback). An electrogoniometer was used to calculate active knee-joint position sense. Three angles (one each between 10-30°, 30-60°, and 60-80°) were randomly selected by the experimenter, who then moved the right limb at a slow and steady speed to the target angle. Each S performed three trials trying to reproduce the target position. After establishing baseline results for knee-joint position sense/force proprioception, in a randomly designed experiment, Ss entered a pre-cooling chamber (-60±5°C) for 20 seconds. Ss then entered a second chamber (-110±5°C) for three minutes. Post-testing followed immediately and again 15 minutes later. Ss completed the remaining tests (knee-joint position sense/force proprioception) two hours after their first visit to the chamber. Tympanic temperature was measured five minutes before and every five minutes following treatment.

Both maximal voluntary isometric contraction and tympanic temperature were reduced significantly following treatment, no significant differences were recorded 15 minutes following treatment. The average error of the trials, ignoring the direction of the error, of both knee-joint position sense and force proprioception increased significantly following treatment.

Implication. Whole-body cryotherapy reduces maximal voluntary isometric contraction, knee-joint position sense, force proprioception, and tympanic temperature.

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