RESUMO
NEW FINDINGS: What is the topic of this review? This is the first review to look across the broad field of 'cold water immersion' and to determine the threats and benefits associated with it as both a hazard and a treatment. What advances does it highlight? The level of evidence supporting each of the areas reviewed is assessed. Like other environmental constituents, such as pressure, heat and oxygen, cold water can be either good or bad, threat or treatment, depending on circumstance. Given the current increase in the popularly of open cold water swimming, it is timely to review the various human responses to cold water immersion (CWI) and consider the strength of the claims made for the effects of CWI. As a consequence, in this review we look at the history of CWI and examine CWI as a precursor to drowning, cardiac arrest and hypothermia. We also assess its role in prolonged survival underwater, extending exercise time in the heat and treating hyperthermic casualties. More recent uses, such as in the prevention of inflammation and treatment of inflammation-related conditions, are also considered. It is concluded that the evidence base for the different claims made for CWI are varied, and although in most instances there seems to be a credible rationale for the benefits or otherwise of CWI, in some instances the supporting data remain at the level of anecdotal speculation. Clear directions and requirements for future research are indicated by this review.
Assuntos
Temperatura Baixa , Crioterapia/métodos , Hidroterapia/métodos , Imersão , Água , Adaptação Fisiológica , Animais , Regulação da Temperatura Corporal , Temperatura Baixa/efeitos adversos , Crioterapia/efeitos adversos , Crioterapia/história , Crioterapia/mortalidade , Afogamento/mortalidade , Afogamento/fisiopatologia , Tolerância ao Exercício , História do Século XVIII , História do Século XIX , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , História Antiga , Humanos , Hidroterapia/efeitos adversos , Hidroterapia/história , Hidroterapia/mortalidade , Imersão/efeitos adversos , Medição de Risco , Fatores de Risco , Natação , Água/efeitos adversosRESUMO
Dental disease in the form of caries and abscesses has been known since antiquity. Before the advent of anaesthesia, operations upon the mouth were painful. The introduction of general anaesthesia in the form of ether and chloroform seemed to provide a solution, but there was an unacceptable level of mortality. James Arnott introduced local anaesthesia by means of freezing with ice, which he considered safer. He waged a long campaign and his method received recognition and was used in France and the USA. His method stimulated the development of pharmacological anaesthesia.