the results. No study as yet has induced DOMS in a population and only provided a cryotherapy for one limb therefore eliminating the potential influencing differences between participants. By using the alternative method of comparing a treated limb to a untreated limb, the aim of the study was to evaluate the use of a post-exercise cryotherapy treatment as a method for preventing the onset of DOMS.
METHODOLOGY
Eight university students (4 males; 4 females; age = 21.25
±
0.7years old; height = 1.70
±
0.11m; mass = 69.5
±
16.03kg) volunteered to participate in this study. All participants reported in good health with no current injuries and were given a familiarisation session where the completion of which without pain or injury was required for continued participation in the study. Throughout the study, participants were asked not to participate in other studies or training that could have an impact on the study's findings. The study was granted ethical clearance by an independent ethics board at Edinburgh Napier University, which acted as a venue for the study. The inducement of DOMS took place in the university's weights room, directly across the hall from the physiology laboratory where the cryotherapy treatment and performance tests were conducted. To assess muscle swelling, the combined muscle girths of the bicep and tricep at three locations along the length of the bicep muscles. The range of motion (ROM) of the elbow defined the range between the elbow's maximal flexion and extension angles, and was collected through use of an isokinetic dynamometer
1
. The dynamometer was calculated the torques generated through each repetition of the bicep curl protocol with the peak measured torques being recorded for analysis. Following a familiarisation session for both the DOMS inducement protocol and the cryotherapy treatment, the baseline testing was conducted using the same tests as to be used in the main study with the exception of a single bicep curl. The single bicep curl was used to determine the participant's maximal lifted weight (1RM) for the inducement weight to be set at that maximal weight. This test was conducted after the other baseline tests so it wouldn't impact the results of the other baseline tests. Muscle girths were taken at both the muscle's insertion and origin points as well as the muscle belly when the muscle is in its flexed and relaxed state. Positions for measurement were marked with a permanent marker to insure the same area was measured each time. For both the ROM and peak torques, participant's performed a single set of five individual arm bicep curls at a rate of 60° per second (Isabell
et al.,
1992), which was then repeated for the other arm. The baseline tests were repeated after DOMS were induced before and after the cryotherapy treatment was received, and then again 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours after DOMS inducement.
1
Cybex HUMAC NORM Testing and Rehabilitation System; Cybex International Inc; New York, USA.