The effects of cooling vests on thermoregulatory responses and exercise performance in individuals with spinal cord injury: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) present thermoregulatory impairments that prejudice thermal compensation and heat dissipation during exercise practice. Thus, cooling vests (CV) seems to be a promising strategy to attenuate it. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of CV in controlling the rise in body temperature and in enhancing exercise performance in individuals with SCI. METHODS: The searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, PEDro, and SciELO databases. We selected randomized controlled trials, quasi-randomized trials, or cross-over trials that evaluated the efficacy of CV before or during exercise practice in thermoregulatory responses and exercise performance of individuals with SCI. RESULTS: A total of 400 reports were identified through databases searches and another article was found through citation searching. Seven cross-over trials were included in this review after the screening processes. CONCLUSION: CV may not be effective in attenuating the rise in core temperature in persons with SCI, but it seems to be effective in controlling skin temperature and in improving thermal comfort/sensation. It is unclear whether the CV is more effective when applied before or during exercise practice. Individuals with tetraplegia may benefit more and the CV may be more effective in strenuous exercises.