Effect of cryotherapy on the electromyographic response of the tibialis anterior, peroneus longus and gastrocnemius lateralis muscles in athletes after ankle inversion movement

Abstract

Cryotherapy is often indicated in the treatment of ankle/foot injuries in athletes; however, there is some controversies regarding its action on motor control. The main objective was to evaluate the effects of cryotherapy on electromyographic response of the ankle muscles in athletes after inversion. The sample consisted of 20 volunteers: 10 university basketball athletes and 10 non-athletes. All athletes were submitted to ankle inversion for the analysis of the EMG signals of Lateral Gastrocnemius (LG), Tibilis Anterior (TA) and Fibular Longus (FL) muscles, before and immediately after ankle immersion in cold water at 4±2ºC, for 20 minutes. The peak Root Mean Square (RMS) values were analyzed between 0 to 0.2 seconds and between 0 to 1 second after a sudden inversion on a tilting platform. Data were normalized by the peak RMS measured before cold water immersion. The statistical analysis was performed using Shapiro Wilk, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. The level of significance was set at 5%. The results showed that the RMS values were lower in TA muscle of athletes, and up to 0.2 seconds in LG and FL muscles of non-athletes; up to 1 second, there was lower LG, TA and FL muscle recruitment in non-athletes. The comparison between athletes and non-athletes showed, in RMS up to 1 second, lower GL muscle recruitment in athletes submitted to pre cold water immersion and TA muscle pre and after cooling. Cryotherapy decreased the electromyographic response of TA muscle in athletes and of LG, TA and FL muscles in non-athletes.