Prolonged physical inactivity leads to a drop in toe skin temperature during local cold stress.

Abstract

The purpose was to examine the effects of a prolonged period of recumbency on the toe temperature responses during cold-water foot immersion. Ten healthy males underwent 35 days of horizontal bed rest. The right foot of the subjects was assigned as the experimental (EXP) foot. To prevent bed rest-induced vascular deconditioning in the left control foot (CON), a sub-atmospheric vascular pressure countermeasure regimen was applied on the left lower leg for 4 × 10 min every second day. On the first (BR-1) and the last (BR-35) day of the bed rest, subjects performed two 30 min foot immersion tests in 8 °C water, one with the EXP foot and the other with the CON foot. The tests were conducted in counter-balanced order and separated by at least a 15 min interval. At BR-35, the average skin temperature of the EXP foot was lower than at BR-1 (-0.8 °C; P = 0.05), a drop that was especially pronounced in the big toe (-1.6 °C; P = 0.05). In the CON foot, the average skin temperature decreased by 0.6 °C in BR-35, albeit the reduction was not statistically significant (P = 0.16). Moreover, the pressure countermeasure regimen ameliorated immersion-induced thermal discomfort for the CON foot (P = 0.05). Present findings suggest that severe physical inactivity exaggerates the drop in toe skin temperature during local cold stress, and thus might constitute a potential risk factor for local cold injury.

• Authors: Michail E Keramidas, Roger Kölegård, Ola Eiken, Igor B Mekjavic
• Journal: Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme (Appl Physiol Nutr Metab) Vol. 39 Issue 3 Pg. 369-74 (Mar 2014) ISSN: 1715-5320 [Electronic] Canada
• PMID: 24552380 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Bed Rest
• Cold Temperature
• Cold-Shock Response (physiology)
• Humans
• Male
• Skin Temperature
• Time Factors
• Toes (physiology)
• Young Adult