Whole-body cooling of hyperthermic runners: Comparison of two field therapies

Severe exercise-induced hyperthermia requires rapid cooling. Of the many cooling modalities available, there is disagreement over which is the most effective. The purpose of this field study was to compare two cooling therapies for hyperthermic distance runners who had completed an 11.5-km summer fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of emergency medicine 1996-07, Vol.14 (4), p.355-358
Main Authors: Armstrong, Lawrence E, Crago, Arthur E, Adams, Richard, Roberts, William O, Maresh, Carl M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Pressure
Body Temperature
Cryotherapy - methods
Female
Fever - etiology
Fever - therapy
Heart Rate
heat exhaustion
heat injuries
Humans
Hyperthermia
Ice
Intensive care medicine
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Running - physiology
thermoregulation
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Summary:Severe exercise-induced hyperthermia requires rapid cooling. Of the many cooling modalities available, there is disagreement over which is the most effective. The purpose of this field study was to compare two cooling therapies for hyperthermic distance runners who had completed an 11.5-km summer foot race. Twenty-one distance runners (mean [± SE] initial rectal temperature 41.2 ± 0.2°C) were treated either by ice water immersion (1 to 3°C, n = 14) or by air exposure while wrapped in wet towels (24.4°C ambient, n = 7). Ice water immersion versus air exposure resulted in significantly different ( P < .005) pretherapy to posttherapy changes in rectal temperature (-3.0 ± 0.3 v -1.4 ± 0.3°C) and mean cooling rate (0.20 ± 0.02 v 0.11 ± 0.02°C/min). Ice water immersion cooled approximately twice as fast as air exposure. These data refute the theory that ice water immersion is an inefficient cooling modality.
ISSN:0735-6757
1532-8171
DOI:10.1016/S0735-6757(96)90048-0