Difference in skin temperature variation between whole- and partial-body cryotherapy devices - A new approach to optimized treatment protocols

摘要

Whole- (WBC) and partial-body cryotherapy (PBC) are today highly developed treatment methodsused in several domains like pain relief, sport recovery and well-being. In recent years, there aremore and more device manufacturers. However, although more and more studies are published onWBC and PBC, the two technologies are not always well demarcated in the literature. In severalarticles, the technology used is not indicated. It is very important because it appears that these twotechnologies have different effects on human. In this context, it is difficult to standardized preciselythe exposure protocols according to the desired effects. The aim of this study is to compare theeffects of a 3-min exposure in WBC and in a PBC on skin temperature variation.Skin temperature of four healthy men was measured 5 minutes before, immediately after (post 10 s)and within 5 minutes after the exposure with a VarioCAM® hr head thermal camera (Jenoptik, Jena,Germany) and connected to the IRBIS3® Infratec software.The whole-body mean temperatures after exposure are significantly different (p = 0.001) betweenthe cryotherapy technologies (PBC: 23.17 ± 0,35 °C; WBC: 26.70 ± 0.49 °C). The temperaturedecrease after WBC session was -24.17 ± 1.67 % and after PBC exposure -15,03 ± 0,74 %. Theskin temperature variation of upper and lower limb had the same results. The decrease was higherwith WBC than PBC.These results highlight the interest of adapting exposure protocols. It demonstrates the interest ofadapting the duration of exposure in function of the cryotherapy device used.