Effect of wrist cooling on aerobic and anaerobic performance in elite sportsmen

Body cooling has been used to increase sporting performance and enhance recovery. Several studies have reported improvement in exercise capacities using forearm and hand cooling or only hand cooling. Wrist cooling has emerged as a portable light weight solution for precooling prior to sporting activity. The Astrand test for aerobic performance and the Wingate test for anaerobic performance are reliable and accurate tests for performance assessment. This study conducted on elite Indian athletes analyses the effects of wrist precooling on aerobic and anaerobic performance as tested by the Astrand test and the Wingate test before and after wrist precooling.

67 elite sportsmen were administered Wingate and Astrand test under standardised conditions with and without wrist precooling using a wrist cooling device (dhamaSPORT). Paired t-test was applied to study effect on aerobic [VO₂ (ml/min/kg)] and anaerobic performance [peak power (W/kg) and average power (W/kg)] and Cohen's d was used to calculate effect size of wrist precooling.

After wrist precooling, significant increase of 0.22 (p = 0.014, 95% CI: 0.047, 0.398) in peak power (W/kg) and 0.22 (p < 0.0001, 95% CI: 0.142, 0.291) was observed in average power (W/kg). Although, an increase of 1.38 (p = 0.097, 95% CI: -0.225, 3.012) was observed in VO₂ (ml/min/kg), wrist precooling was not significantly effective in aerobic performance. Wrist cooling effect size was smaller in VO₂ (Cohen's d = 0.21), peak power (Cohen's d = 0.31) and it was larger in average power (Cohen's d = 0.71).

Results show wrist precooling significantly improves anaerobic than aerobic performance of elite sportsmen.