Physiological Parameters in Response to Levels of Pressure during Contemporary CryoCompressive Applications Implications for Protocol Development

Background The effectiveness of simultaneous dosages of compression and cryotherapy that cryo-compressive devices can offer are of interest in the management of sports injury or post-exercise recovery. Dose-response in terms of physiological parameter is required to inform current practice in the remit of sports medicine to help define optimal protocols for application. The current study aimed to investigate the physiological effects and subjective responses of different cryo-compression dosages offered by two cryo-compressive devices over a rewarming period. Methods Twenty-nine healthy male and female participants (male n=18; female n=11) volunteered (mean ± SD: age 22 ± 3.6 years, height 168.2 ± 8.6 cm, weight 67.4 ± 11.5 kg and thigh circumference 50.7 ± 6.7 cm). Objective measures included skin surface temperature, muscle oxygenation saturation, thermal comfort and sensation. Data were collected pre, immediately post and over a 20-minute rewarming period. Participants were randomly assigned to either Group A (Game Ready); B (Squid) or C Control group. Intervention groups received different cryo-compressive protocols for testing, but all received 15-minutes of cooling. Results Significant reductions in skin surface temperature were displayed across the intervention groups for all time-points (p≤0.05). Analysis of all data displayed a significant effect of time (p≤0.001) on muscle oxygenation. Collapse of the data indicated significant differences in muscle oxygenation across the different modalities and pressure (p≤0.05). Conclusion Muscle oxygenation saturation and skin surface temperature responses differ depending on pressure dose in conjunction with cooling. Higher initial increases of muscle oxygenation saturation immediately post intervention correlate to higher levels of compression. Greater magnitudes of cooling can be achieved through the adjunct of compression. Dose-response relationships between cooling and simultaneous compression should be considered and are dependent on the therapeutic aim of treatment. In order to develop optimum protocols for management of either injury or recovery parameters further investigation is required of contemporary cryo-compressive devices.