Abstract

Background. The reasons for taking advantage of low temperatures for therapeutic purposes include their anaesthetic and anti-inflammatory effeets. The present stucly aimed to assess changes in the excitability of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve (MACN) resulting from local cryotherapeutic procedures. Materials and methods. The investigation involved 108 healthy volunteers aged 20-25 years and randomly assigned to three groups (A, B and C). Immediately before the cryotherapy procedure, skin temperature was measured in the area innen/ated by the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve in all participants. The chronaxy of this nerve was also determined. Groups A and B subse-ąuently received cooling procedures at -10°C with a gel compress applied to the arm and forearm area (i. e. the area innen/ated by the MACN). In Group A, the compress was applied for 20 minutes and in Group B for 4 minutes. In Group C this area was sub-jected to a 2-minute cooling procedure using liquid nitrogen vapour at -160C. Chronaximetry and skin temperature measurements were repeated immediately on completion of the cooling procedure and 20 minutes later. Results. A statistically significant prolongation of chronaxy in relation to its baseline values was obsen/ed in Group A both immediately after the procedure and 20 minutes later. In Group B, statistically significant prolongation of chronaxy was seen between the values obtained immediately after the procedure and those measured before the procedure. In group C, chronaxy was signifi-cantly longer 20 minutes after the procedure vis-a-vis its baseline value. Conclusions. All cooling procedures applied reduced excitability of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nen/e. Decreased exci-tability was maintained over the longest period in Groups A and C.

Key words:

cutaneous nerve, excitability, cryotherapy