The immediate effect of short-term use of cold spray on ankle joint position sense in healthy individuals

Introduction: Although the effects of cold on joint position have been investigated in many studies, but research that used the cold spray for this purpose have not found. The purpose of this study was to examine the immediate effect of using a short-term protocol of topical cold spray on ankle joint position sense (AJPS) in healthy individuals.Materials and Methods: Thirty healthy male soccer players with a mean age of 23.2±1.29 years, height 177.11±5.92 cm, weight 69.5. ±6.73 kg, participated in this study. Simultaneously, inside and outside of the ankle was cold by spray. The accuracy of the ankle position sense before and immediately after applying cold was assessed by Electrogoniometer at angles of 10° and 20° dorsi and plantar flexion.Results: The results showed that despite the reduction of AJPS accuracy after using a short-term protocol of local cooling; there was no significant difference between the error of estimated angle before and after cold therapy.Conclusion: It appears that the use of cold spray for a short time only has an immediate effect on the skin receptors. But the muscle spindles and joint receptors as deeper receptors, which have a key role in JPS, are not affected.Keywords: Joint position sense, Ankle joint, Cryotherapy