Abstract

Currently, one of the therapeutic methods of physical medicine applied in physiotherapeutic treatment of patients with ankylosing spondylitis is the whole-body cryotherapy – the short appliance of temperatures lower than -100°C in order to trigger physical reactions in response to cold as an adjunctive method in better preparation of patients for kinesiotherapy. The aim of the study was to assess the analgesic effect of the whole-body cryotherapy in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.32 males with ankylosing spondylitis were subjected to the trial, who were divided randomly into two 16-person groups, which did not different significantly with regard to age, duration and severity of the disease. The groups underwent ten whole-body cryotherapy with subsequent kinesiotherapy procedures or only 10 kinesiotherapy procedures, respectively. On the first day before the treatment cycle beginning and the first day after treatment completion the patients assess the pain intensity by means of 10-point visual analogue scale (WAS).In patients with ankylosing spondylitis after the completion of a cycle of whole-body cryotherapy procedures the significant reduction of pain intensity amounted to 46% in average (p<0,05) was observed.Whole-body cryotherapy procedures demonstrate a significant analgesic effect in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Key words:

ankylosing spondylitis, whole-body cryotherapy, analgesic effect