Does Pre-Cooling With Whole-Body Immersion Affect Thermal Sensation or Perceived Exertion?: A Critically-Appraised Topic.

Does Pre-Cooling With Whole-Body Immersion Affect Thermal Sensation or Perceived Exertion?: A Critically-Appraised Topic. J Sport Rehabil. 2018 Feb 21;:1-15 Authors: Wohlfert TM, Miller KC Abstract Clinical Scenario: Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is a potentially deadly heat illness and poses a significant health risk to athletes; EHS survival rates are near 100% if properly recognized and treated.1 Whole body cold water immersion (CWI) is the most effective method of lowering body core temperature.2 Precooling (PC) with CWI before exercise may prevent severe hyperthermia and/or EHS by increasing the body's overall heat-storage capacity.3 However, PC may also alter athletes' perception of how hot they feel or how hard they are exercising. Consequently, they may be unable to accurately perceive their body core temperature or how hard they are working which may predispose them to severe hyperthermia or EHS. CLINICAL QUESTION: Does PC with whole-body CWI affect thermal sensation (TS) or rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during exercise in the heat? SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: In four studies,4-7 RPE during exercise ranged from 12 ± 2 to 20 ± 3 with no clinically meaningful differences between PC and control trials. Thermal sensation scores ranged from 2 ± 1 to 8 ± 0.5 in control trials and from 2 ± 1 to 7.5 ± 0.5 during PC trials. Clinical Bottom Line: Precooling did not cause clinically-meaningful differences in RPE or T...
Source: Journal of Sport Rehabilitation - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: J Sport Rehabil Source Type: research