Report
Taking a hot bath can induce some of the positive immune changes seen during exercise
Investigating whether hot baths can induce positive immune changes similar to exercise: extra benefits for individuals with tetraplegia
- Lead academic:
- Professor Vicky Tolfrey
- Additional academics:
- Dr Christof Leicht
- Funder:
- The Peter Harrison Foundation
The dysfunctional sympathetic nervous system in individuals with tetraplegia impairs the adrenaline response, and may therefore contribute to the blunted post-exercise inflammatory response.
This may limit the beneficial health effects of exercise. The purpose of this study was to investigate an alternative to exercise to induce an inflammatory response by passively elevating core temperature in individuals with tetraplegia.
Methods
7 males with a motor complete cervical spinal cord injury and 8 able-bodied male controls were immersed for 60 min in water set at a temperature 2-°C above the individuals’ resting core temperature (~39-°C).
Main findings and applications
- Passive elevation of core temperature acutely elevated a range of inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-8 and IL-1ra) in tetraplegia despite a blunted adrenaline response. This is in contrast to earlier exercise interventions.
- The present study lays the foundation for future studies to explore water immersion as an alternative to exercise to induce an acute inflammatory response in tetraplegia which may help prevent chronic disease (cardiovascular disease or type II diabetes).