Comparison of the Effects of Cryotherapy and Thermotherapy on Permeability After Skeletal Muscle Injury

Abstract

Skeletal muscle injuries are common in active individuals. The inflammatory process is a vital component of muscle healing beginning with enhanced permeability. As blood vessels dilate, inflammatory promoting proteins and white blood cells enter the damaged area to eliminate debris and initiate regeneration. The application of controlled temperature on the injured muscle remains the most common treatment. However, there is conflicting evidence on the advantages of cryotherapy, and there is a lack of evidence on benefits of thermotherapy. Therefore the purpose of our study was to compare the effects of cryotherapy and thermotherapy on muscle vascular permeability in both male and female mice. Barium chloride (BaCl2) was injected into the right tibialis anterior (TA) to cause a chemical injury and sodium chloride (NaCl) was injected into the left TA as a control. Therapy was started immediately after injury. The control group was anesthetized, the thermotherapy group received heat treatment (41°C) while anesthetized, and the cryotherapy group received cold therapy (10°C) while anesthetized, for 20 mins every 3 hours, during 2 consecutive 12 hr wake cycles. Evans Blue (EB) dye was injected through the lateral tail vein to assess vascular permeability in the TA muscles. There was no significant difference in permeability between the NaCl injected muscles regardless of treatment. Permeability 36 hours post‐injection was significantly elevated in the BaCl2 injected TA muscles in all groups. Cryotherapy significantly reduced permeability in the BaCl2 injured muscles as compared to thermotherapy (cryotherapy: 4.78±2.68 vs. thermotherapy: 11.1±2.32 ngEB/mgTA). Our data suggests that cryotherapy limits permeability 36 hrs post‐skeletal muscle injury. New data suggests inflammation is necessary for efficient muscle healing. Therefore new treatments for muscle injury should be considered.Support or Funding InformationUrsinus College Student Research FundingThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.