Effects of plantar hypothermia on quasi-static balance: Two different hypothermic procedures

Inducing hypothermia to examine its effects on balance is performed with various approaches. However, data interpretations of underlying postural mechanisms often do not consider the applied hypothermic protocol. In this context, the effects of diminished plantar mechanoreceptor activity on quasi-static balance performance were investigated, examining the applicability of a continuously cooling thermal platform in comparison with conventional ice pads. Increased instability for the thermal platform compared to cooling with ice pads was hypothesized, since we expected increased temperatures for the ice pad group directly after balance tests. Similar scores on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were predicted regarding subjective pain. Results showed that both cooling procedures successfully induced plantar hypothermia. However, the thermal platform was more effective with respect to reaching and maintaining the desired temperature throughout the trials, especially when comparing temperatures before and after balance tests. Therefore, balance tests indeed demonstrated increased COP parameters exclusively after permanent cooling via the thermal platform as early as after the first 10 min of cooling. Reduced plantar input may result in this postural instability, but without the need of other sensory systems to compensate. The VAS generally demonstrated higher pain scores for the ice pads, rejecting our hypothesis. This is an important finding, since pain is known to influence balance. Therefore, permanent and controllable cooling via the thermal platform should be taken into consideration when conducting related research.