Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

First Advisor

Gary Schindler

Keywords

Athletes, Palm cooling, Queen’s College Step Test, vertical jump.

Abstract

Modern day athletes are continuously searching for ways that they can find a competitive advantage over their peers. This study aimed to assess if palm cooling was effective in increasing power, strength, and/or endurance during exercise. After completing a warmup, 24 participants (11 males,13 females; age 22.75 ± 1.36) were assessed on two separate occasions where they performed three separate exercises: vertical jump to analyze power, isometric knee extension to analyze strength, and Queen’s College Step Test to analyze endurance. On the first day of testing, participants were randomly assigned into a cooling or non-cooling group. Thus, completing all three exercises using Game Ready® GRPro® 2.1 device palm cooling on one occasion, and without on the other separate occasion. Participants in the cooling group were given 3 minutes of palmar cooling before the first set and between sets for power and strength testing. For the Queen’s College Step Test, participants completed the testing while palm cooling the entire time. The results showed that palm cooling did not produce statistically significant results regarding an increase in power, strength, or endurance. Interestingly, males showed a decrease in maximal vertical jump during cooling conditions, while females showed an increase. This differing response between the genders was notable, but not significant (P = 0.058). In conclusion, this study does not support the use of palm cooling for improving endurance, power, or strength. However, this concept is novel, and more research is needed to contribute to this study’s findings.

Download

Share

COinS