Abstract
We studied the effects of therapeutic heating before active exercise on preventing joint contractures. Female Wistar rats (12 weeks old) were used in this study. The ankle joint was immobilized in full plantar flexion by a cast. The rats were divided into three groups. In the first group, the ankle of each rat was immobilized with no therapy performed (immobilized group). In the second group, the cast of each rat was removed daily, and treadmill running (10 min.) was performed once a day (running group). In the third group, the rats were immersed in a hot bath (42°C) once a day before treadmill running (10 min.) was performed (heat & running group). We compared the range of motion of the ankle joints after one week. Joint contractures occurred in all groups. The results in the running group were similar to that of the immobilized group. However, there was a significant decrease (p<0.01) in the degree of severity of the contractures in the heat & running group, as compared to the immobilized and running groups. As a result, we have demonstrated confirmed the effectiveness of therapeutic heating before active exercise on preventing joint contractures in rats, and we believe that the same results may be found in future studies on humans.
