None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the study is to investigate the benefits of using cold water immersion (commonly referred to as ice baths and widely used by professional athletes) for recovery in the military operational environment. This project aims to assess whether cold water immersion can reduce pain and fatigue and preserve power and flexibility when compared to passive recovery following combat operations.
Interventions
The intervention being studied is cold water immersion. Subjects will be immersed up to and including their shoulders in cold water for 14 minutes at 15 degrees celsius, as soon as practicable after returning from combat operations. Each subject will undergo the CWI intervention twice and the passive recovery intervention twice in a crossover fashion. The minimum period between interventions will be 4 days.
Sponsors
Angela Rogers
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
Male
Age
0 to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Members who are currently deployed on operations in Afghanistan and who are involved in combat operations on foot.
Exclusion criteria
A past history of arrhythmias A past history of cold hypersensitivity A current injury preventing members from participating in a vertical leap assessment Open wounds or skin infection
Outcome results
None listed