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Practical neck cooling and time-trial running performance in a hot environment

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Abstract

The aim of this two-part experiment was to investigate the effect of cooling the neck on time-trial performance in hot conditions (~30°C; 50% RH). In Study A, nine participants completed a 75-min submaximal (~60% \( \dot{V}{\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{max}}}} \)) pre-load phase followed by a 15-min self-paced time-trial (TT) on three occasions: one with a cooling collar (CC90), one without a collar (NC90) and one with the collar uncooled (C90). In Study B, eight participants completed a 15-min TT twice: once with (CC15) and once without (NC15) a cooling collar. Time-trial performance was significantly improved in Study A in CC90 (3,030 ± 485 m) compared to C90 (2,741 ± 537 m; P = 0.008) and NC90 (2,884 ± 571 m; P = 0.041). Fifteen-minute TT performance was unaffected by the collar in Study B (CC15 = 3,239 ± 267 m; NC15 = 3,180 ± 271 m; P = 0.351). The collar had no effect on rectal temperature, heart rate or RPE. There was no effect of cooling the neck on S100β, cortisol, prolactin, adrenaline, noradrenaline or dopamine concentrations in Study A. Cooling the neck via a cooling collar can improve exercise performance in a hot environment but it appears that there may be a thermal strain threshold which must be breached to gain a performance benefit from the collar.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr Philip Hennis, Dr Hannah MacLeod and Mr Ian Varley for their assistance with data collection. The authors would also like to thank Dr Craig Sale and Dr John Morris for taking the time to read through the manuscript. The studies conducted in this manuscript were conducted while all authors were at Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no relationships or affiliations with any companies or manufacturers to disclose. The results presented in this manuscript do not constitute endorsement by the authors or the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Whitelands College, Roehampton University, London, SW15 4JD, UK

    Christopher James Tyler

  2. School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK

    Perry Wild & Caroline Sunderland

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  1. Christopher James Tyler
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  2. Perry Wild
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Correspondence to Christopher James Tyler.

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Communicated by George Havenith.

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Tyler, C.J., Wild, P. & Sunderland, C. Practical neck cooling and time-trial running performance in a hot environment. Eur J Appl Physiol 110, 1063–1074 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1567-7

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