Palm Cooling’s Heart Rate and Thermal Impact on Exercise in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Abstract Heat strain in multiple sclerosis patients during exercise limits their benefits from this treatment. One prior study examined this topic but did not measure thermal outcomes and constitutes a knowledge gap. The current pilot study assessed palm cooling for its impact on heart rates and thermal measures. Using a randomized within-subjects design, nine multiple sclerosis patients performed two 25-minute cycle ergometry workouts against 65 and 45% of their Astrand-Rhyming-based workloads. Heart rates, thermal flux, palm and tympanic temperatures were examined using two-way analyses of variance with repeated measures per independent variable. To control the family-wise error rate, a Bonferroni correction was applied at a lower α level of 0.0024. Paired t-tests identified sources of significant inter-treatment and -time differences. Palm temperature, thermal flux, and heart rate had significant two-way interactions. Palm temperature (η 2 p =0.39) and heart rate (η 2 p =0.22) results were significantly higher for the no palm cooling treatment at multiple times during and after workouts. Yet, thermal flux (η 2 p =0.39) was significantly higher due to palm cooling at multiple times during and after workouts. Higher thermal flux from palm cooling may have evoked lower heart rates. Palm cooling may represent a practical strategy to mitigate exercise-induced heat strain in individuals with multiple sclerosis.