The Effect of Therapeutic Cold on the Recovery Process after Muscle Strain Injury

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of therapeutic cold on the recovery process after an incomplete muscle strain injury. METHOD: We made incomplete muscle strain injuries with the predefined extent. Unilateral tibialis anterior (TA) tendons were detached at their distal insertions and stretched beyond the complete rupture points. The incomplete strain injury point was identified on the deformation- tension curve. We strained each TA of 18 rabbits to 20% deformation point and held for 2 seconds. After injury, we applied ice packs for 5 minutes on unilateral TA. Histologic findings were examined at 1, 2 days, 2, 4, 5 weeks. RESULTS: Incomplete strain injuries were occurred at 19.36 4.02% deformation. In the acute phase, cold applied TA showed fewer (15.4+/-4.2) inflammatory cells infiltration than control TA (21.8+/-5.3) at LPF (x40). But, there was no significant difference between cold applied TA and control in the recovery phase. CONCLUSION: It is possible to develop certain amount of incomplete muscle strain injuries. The results of this study suggest that the cold therapy may reduce the inflammatory reaction in the acute phase of muscle strain injury. The findings provide no significant support for the positive or negative effect of cold therapy on incomplete strain injury.