The Effect of Cryotherapy on the Normal Ankle Joint Position Sense

PURPOSE To determine whether a fifteen-minute water immersion treatment affects the normal ankle joint position sense (JPS) at the middle range of dorsiflexion and plantar flexion actively and passively. METHODS Thirty healthy female volunteers aged between 18 and 30 years were treated by a 15-minute cryotherapy (6 ± 1°C). The subject's skin temperature over antromedial aspect of dominant ankle was measured by the Mayomed device before, immediate and 15 minutes after water immersion. Ankle JPS was tested trough the pedal goniometer at 3 stages similar to the skin temperature. ANOVA (α = 0.05) was performed on each of variables using SPSS 19.0 software. RESULTS Skin temperature was seen to decrease after water immersion but subjects did not return to pre-test skin temperature after 15 minutes (P<0.001). The research found no significant difference in JPS at middle range of dorsiflexion and plantar flexion actively and passively before and after cryotherapy. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that 15-minute water immersion at 6°C dose not significantly alter the middle range of plantar flexion/ dorsiflexion JPS at the ankle and is not deleterious to JPS.