Effect of Knee Cooling after Local Fatigue on Proprioception in Trained Women

Proprioception affects muscle reflexes, joint dynamic stability control, and motion planning for neuromuscular control. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of knee cooling after local fatigue on proprioception in athletic women.
The current study was done using semi-experimental method with pretest-posttest. Participants included 40 healthy athletic women divided into four groups (control, cooling, fatigue, cooling after fatigue). Cooling with ice pack on knee was used for both groups of cooling and cooling after fatigue. Also, fatigue and cooling after fatigue groups performed neuromuscular local fatigue protocol including a variety of plyometric exercises. Knee proprioception before and after cooling (immediately after fatigue in fatigue group) and 20 minutes after cooling was evaluated by measuring angle error 30, 45, and 60 degree knee joint using isokinetic dynamometer. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS software and running repeated measure ANOVA, independent T-test, and bonferroni correction. The significance value was set at α≤ 0.05.
The results showed that despite significant decrease in skin temperature after cooling, there was no significant difference in the groups in different time period neither was any significant difference between the groupsstudied.
It seems that cooling protocol used in the present study only affects the skin receptors. Muscle and joint receptors that play a role in joint position sense are not affected. Therefore, it can be concluded that this method of cooling, even in case of fatigue, will have no danger for athletes to continue their activities.