It has been shown that body cooling may decrease the performance of muscles. Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) is a mode of cold therapy, in which patients are repeatedly exposed to very cold air (-110 to -140 °C). WBC has been used in sports medicine and to enhance recovery in athletes following heavy periods of training. However, the effect of a single session of WBC on muscle performance has not been documented. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a single WBC bout on strength in healthy subjects. Methods: Fourteen young men (21.1 ± 2.3 yrs) were randomly exposed to two different conditions separated by a minimum of 72 hours: 1) WBC (Subjects were exposed to 3 min of WBC at -110 °C); 2) Control no-WBC (NWBC; subjects stayed in the WBC chamber for 3 min at 21 °C). All subjects were tested for maximal isokinetic elbow flexion at 60°/s before and after each condition. Statistical evaluation of the data was performed using a 2 x 2 repeated measures ANOVA [condition x time]. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. Results: The peak torque of WBC was 65.54 ± 9.23 N.m in the pretest and 63.98 ± 9.39 N.m in the posttest. The NWBC group obtained 66.30 ± 9.25 N.m and 64.74 ± 10.14 N.m in the pretest and posttest, respectively. The total work performed by WBC in the pretest was 455.96 ± 68.85 J and in the posttest was 447.90 ± 70.22 J. For the NWBC the scores of total work were 450.95 ± 61.25 J in the pretest and 445.13 ± 64.08 J in the posttest. There were no significant differences in peak torque or total work between conditions or between pretest and posttest. Discussion: The results indicate that a single 3-min session of WBC (-110 °C) did not decrease muscle torque production or work capacity. These findings were in disagreement with results previous reported. Westerlund et al. (2009) observed a decrease in the drop-jump flight time after a single WBC exposure. In the other hand, Fricke et al. (1999) found that the isokinetic torque of the knee flexors and extensors improved after a single WBC bout (2 min) in untrained healthy subjects. The differences between the present investigation`s results and previous reports may be due to a difference in body segments analyzed in each study. Upper body and lower extremities may response differently to the WBC. Further studies should test this hypothesis. However, the present findings suggest that coaches and physical therapists can use WBC before training and rehabilitation without compromising the performance of upper-body muscles.
© Copyright 2012 17th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Bruges, 4. -7. July 2012. Veröffentlicht von Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.