Context:
Rehabilitation.
Objective:
To determine the effects of a 20-min ice treatment on pain tolerance and peak torque.
Design:
A 2 × 2 × 6 factorial with repeated measures on 1 factor.
Setting:
Outpatient rehabilitation clinic.
Participants:
20 men and 15 women.
Intervention:
The participants were randomly assigned to an experimental (ice bag) or control (no ice bag) group.
Main Outcome Measures:
Peak electrical-stimulation output intensity (ESOI) was recorded in mV, and isokinetic peak torque (IPT), in N · m, every 4 min for 20 min.
Results:
ESOI and IPT increased over time. ESOI for the experimental condition was greater than for the control and within the experimental condition at 12, 16, and 20 min. No other differences were found for the IPT measures. There were no differences for ESOI and IPT between genders.
Conclusions:
Cryotherapy enables patients to tolerate greater output intensities but does not result in increased peak torque
