Lab report sport science - Determine the effect of Cryotherapy on DOMS Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

 (a)   Design Criteria

1.      General Aim
     To determine the effect of Cryotherapy on DOMS Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

2.      Research Question

     To find  out what extent is cold water  immersion (CWI)  efficacious  to  aid recovery and  reduce the effect of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. The most common tip  given by others on DOMS was to use recovery techniques  such as warm baths, Stretching and  to use  cold packs. So now  this  investigation  is to find how effective the cold water immersion against DOMS.

3.      Hypothesis

     The possible solution for the investigation can be measured by recording the circumference of  mid-thighs (­±0.5 cm)  and the  pain level – using the Universal Pain Assessment  Scale of 16-18 years old (± 0.5 years old) trained females 24 hours (± 0.5 hours)  after completing 60 jump box repetitions followed by a Squat and undergoing Cold water Immersion. The result suggests the use of CWI over Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

4.      Background Information

     According to Cheung et al .(2003) the decrease in temperature of the body tissues caused by the cold water “ stimulates cutaneous receptors to excite the symphathetic adrenergic fibres [ which leads to] the constriction of local arterioles and venules”. This is thought to reduce swelling, the “ Inflammatory response, vascular permeability and the formation oedema” (Cheung et al ; 2003) along to “diminish soreness, and facilitates a more rapid return of performance capabilities” ( Crystal et al.,2013). The 2008 study conducted by Montogomery et al. support this claim after measuring pre-and post-tournament performance test of basket players. It was concluded that “repeated cold-water immersion [provided] small to moderate performance gains” to their players [Montgomory et al.,2008]. There are however multiple investigations contradicting this claim such as Crystal et al. s (2013). After measuring the inflammatory response 20 reactional athletes , they concluded that the “study support Cryotherapy”.

5.      Independent Variables

     The temperature on leg after exercise while putting it in the Ice bath. The independent variable is whether the participants will have the ice bath in which they will remain in for 5 minutes at a temperature less than 20^o C.

6.      Dependant Variables

     The mid – circumference of legs and pain scale, pain felt by the participants which will be measured by using the Universal Pain Assessment Scale along to their mid- thigh circumference before, after the exercise and after the ice bath.

7.      Controlled Variables

      Some of the controlled variables are temperature of ice bath, amount of squats and air temperature. Only females will be investigated as per the American Council on Exercise, women are  composed on average of 25-31% fat (compared to men which are between 18 – 24%) (Muth, 2009) which acts as a natural insulator. Thus , it is expected that the women will better deal with the cold temperature and decrease the change of them getting out of the ice bath early.

8.      How will I control the variables

     The temperature of ice bath can be controlled by using a thermometer and adding or retrieving ice  whenever the  temperature  was too high or too low. By making all the students perform the same exercise by jumping 75 times from the same height the amount of exercise variation can be controlled. The variation of air temperature can be controlled by keeping the temperature of gym the same for making the effect of exercise and ice bath the same for all.

9.      Confounding variable

     These factors which may affect the results, but cannot be controlled.

10.  List all equipments/materials to be used

·        Ice bath                       -   4 times

·        Water                          – 1 full bucket

·        Gymnastics boxes     – 2 times

·        Workout clothes        – One/Each student

·        Thermometer             – 1 times

·        Tape measurer           – 5 times

·        Stop watch                  – One/ Each student

11. Method

·        Measure distance between top of iliac crest and process sticking out of tibia with a measuring tape and divide it by two ,and put a mark on your leg.

·        Measure the mid-circumference of both of your legs and record.

·        Jump off a Gymnastics  box 75 times consecutively and land in a squat jump ( an eccentric muscle contraction) .

·        Measure mid-circumference of both of your legs post exercise and record.

·        Sit in the ice bath with one leg in for 10 minutes (2 ^o C) .

·        Dry off leg with towel and measure/record circumference of both legs and the VAS pain scale.

·        For the next 3 days record circumference of both legs, after 2 hours , 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours. Record all data.

(b)   Data collection & Processing (Analysis)

12. Results ( Qualitative and Qualitative)

       

	right leg circumference by time (± 0.5cm)
participant/hour		0hr	6hr	12hr	24hr	48hr	72hr
	1	60	60	61	61	61	60
	2	54	54	55	55	55	54
	3	60	60	59	60	60	60
	4	52	52	53	52	51	51
	5	52	54	56	56	56	54
	6	54	54.5	56	55	55.5	55
	7	50	50	49	50	50	50
	avg	54.6	54.9	55.6	55.6	55.5	54.9
	sd	4.0	3.8	3.9	4.0	4.1	3.9

	left leg circumference by time (± 0.5cm)
participant/hour		0hr	6hr	12hr	24hr	48hr	172hr
	1	59	58	59	59	60	59
	2	53	52	52	52	52	53
	3	59	58	58	59	59	59
	4	52	51	50	49	49	50
	5	50	54	54	54	54	53
	6	53	53.5	54	54	55	54
	7	48	49	51	51	50	50
	avg	53.4	53.6	54.0	54.0	54.1	54.0
	sd	4.2	3.4	3.4	3.8	4.2	3.7

 

After 6hr	After 12hrs	After 24hrs	After 48hrs	After 72hrs
3	5	8	6	3
3	6	8	6	4
1	1	2	2	1
4	6	8	6	4
2	3	8	6	1
2	3	5	6	5
5	3	1	1	1
2.9	3.9	5.7	4.7	2.7
1.3	1.9	3.1	2.2	1.7
After 6hr	After 12hrs	After 24hrs	After 48hrs	After 72hrs
2.9	3.9	5.7	4.7	2.7

     For appropriate and sufficient data processing, CWI trials- which had the respective values of 55.2 cm and 55.1 cm – and neither with the value at rest (54.5 cm) this difference of 0.18% between the two variable suggest that there is no co relation between the use of CWI and a decrease in mid-thigh circumference. The error bars of the three measurements are overlapping suggesting no statistically significant difference between their values. This claim is support by a P-value > 0.05 (One- way ANOVA , F2, 27=0.136,P=0.873) and a Turkey – kramer test indicating no statistical significances.

     On the other hand, the CWI trials error bar does not overlap the controlled trial error bar implicating a statistically significant difference between the two variables.

(c)  Conclusion and Summary (Evaluation)

     By making participants perform eccentric contraction meant to cause DOMS in their legs followed by 5 minutes of CWI , the general trend across that CWI only partially alleviated the symptoms of DOMS . The PL 24 after undergoing CWI is 75% lower that the PL without CWI suggesting that CWI helps to reduce the pain level 24 hrs after exercise. This was also supported by having a P-value < 0.05 and the Turkey – Kramer test indicating a statistically significant difference between the two means.

     A  similar  trend was  seen in  Rowsell et al. ‘s (2008)  investigation  on  the immediate  effect  (22 hr after) of  CWI on the physical performances in higher –  performance  junior  male  soccer player.  The  study  concluded  that  CWI  has  no effect  on  reduction  of “ markers of inflammation ” but  did  decrease  the perception of leg soreness (P=0.004) (Rowsell et al., 2008).       
      The data was collected from female athletes and each trial was repeated five times to enable the identification of trend and possibility to calculate the standard deviation. The same measuring tape was used to measure the mid-thigh circumference and the same number exercise were done during each trial for the exception of one trial for two participants. None of the participants dropped out of the experiment enabling the collection of full set of data. Yet, this investigation is un reliable as the result do not correspond exactly to scientific literature found. This experiment was partially valid since doing 60 repetitions of the exercise did allow the production of DOMS in the participants. Furthermore, the CWI did help reduce the soreness felt by the subjects. How ever, the CWI had no effect on the reduction of mid-thigh circumference.

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