Effect of Ice Massage to Abdomen on Blood Glucose Level and Cardiovascular Function in Healthy Individuals: A Single-group Pre-test and Post-test Experimental Study

Ice massage is commonly employed in the management of non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes. However, there is a paucity of evidence regarding abdominal ice massage on blood glucose level (BGL) and cardiovascular function either in healthy or pathological conditions. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the effects of ice massage to the abdomen on BGL and cardiovascular functions in healthy individuals.

In our single-group pre-test and post-test experimental study, 50 healthy (27 females and 23 males) volunteers aged 24.72 ± 5.48 years were recruited. All the subjects underwent only one session of ice massage to the abdomen for 20 min. Random BGL and cardiovascular functions such as systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse rate (PR), pulse pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP), rate pressure product (RPP), and double product (Do-P) were assessed before, immediately after, and 20 min after the intervention.

The study showed a significant reduction in PR, RPP, and Do-P in the post-test assessments, whereas in the follow-up assessment (i.e., 20 min after the intervention), a significant reduction was found in random blood glucose, SBP, DBP, PR, MAP, RPP, and Do-P compared to the pre-test assessments. No adverse effects were reported by any of the participants during and after the intervention.

Twenty minutes of ice massage to the abdomen improves cardiovascular function immediately after the intervention, whereas after 20 min of intervention, it reduces BGL in addition to improving cardiovascular function in healthy individuals. However, long-term randomized controlled trials in patients with diabetes are recommended with a larger sample size to warrant the clinical efficacy of this study.