Effect of Cryotherapy to Relieve Spasticity in Neurological Conditions - A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND- Cryotherapy is one of the modalities frequently used to inhibit spasticity, the effect of which has been previously studied through the application of different measurements that show contradictory results. OBJECTIVE- To investigate the literature evidence for the effect of Cryotherapy on spasticity in neurological conditions. DATA SOURCES- This review contain latest literature, only Studies included within last 10 years. The keywords: Cryotherapy/ Cold therapy/Icing and spasticity, Physical therapy were entered into PubMed, Google scholar and Ovid databases, which included Medline, CINAHL, and Journals at Ovid full text, EBM reviews. CONCLUSION- Studies included in this review suggest that cryotherapy applied to the spastic muscles is effective in decreasing muscle tonus level.