Cold Water Immersion Does Not Reduce Knee Joint Position Sense in Healthy Participants: a Randomised Cross-over Trial

Cold Water Immersion Does Not Reduce Knee Joint Position Sense in Healthy Participants: a Randomised Cross-over Trial'

The aim of this project is to assess the effect of cold water immersion on knee joint re-positional sense in healthy subjects. Cryotherapy, in the form of cold water immersion, had previously been shown to improve athletic performance however, debate exists within the existing literature regarding whether proprioception, in the form or joint position sense, is effected post treatment.

Null hypothesis (H0): Water immersion has no effect on joint position sense (JPS).

Alternate hypothesis (H1): Water immersion has an effect on joint position sense.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Knee Joint Position Sense
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Tepid water immersion

Detailed Description

This was a prospective, randomised, cross-over design where volunteers acted as their own controls. The volunteers were immersed at two temperatures (detailed below) and these sessions were separated by six to ten days. The order of the testing was randomly assigned using a random number generator. Ethical approval of the design of this trial was gained from the University of Limerick's Research Ethics Committee and signed informed consent was gained from each participant before any data collection took place.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 14
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Ireland
  • Limerick, Ireland
    • University of Limerick

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 40 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects between the ages of 18 and 40 who complete both a Par-Q test and sign an informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Potential subjects who do not complete a Par-Q questionnaire or provide written consent. Subjects with any ankle or knee injuries in the past twelve months.
• Students who have a recent history of ear or vestibular conditions.
• Subjects who will not be available to attend all sessions.
• Subjects who are under the age of 18 or over the age of 40.
• Subjects who aren't comfortable with being blind-folded or videotaped during testing.
• Those who are sensitive to cold exposure or show signs of a contraindication to cryotherapy.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cold water immersion; 14°C ± 1°C for the cold water immersion for 30 minutes to the level of the umbilicus	Other: Tepid water immersion; 28°C ± 1°C for the cold water immersion for 30 minutes to the level of the umbilicus

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Knee Joint Position Sense	10 minutes pre and 5 minutes post immersion

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Limerick
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Alan E Donnelly, PhD, University of Limerick

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: May 1, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2009
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 14, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 15, 2009
• First Posted (Estimate): October 16, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): October 16, 2009
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 15, 2009
• Last Verified: October 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Cryotherapy; Proprioception; Physical Therapy Modalities; Randomised Control Trial; Physical Therapy Techniques; Weightbearing; Knee Injury; Joint Position Sense; Pre Cooling; NonWeightbearing
• Other Study ID Numbers: ULREC 09/11