A randomized controlled study of the acute and chronic effects of cooling therapy for MS.

Background: Cooling demyelinated nerves can reduce conduction block, potentially improving symptoms of MS. The therapeutic effects of cooling in patients with MS have not been convincingly demonstrated because prior studies were limited by uncontrolled designs, unblinded evaluations, reliance on subjective outcome measures, and small sample sizes.

Objective: To determine the effects of a single acute dose of cooling therapy using objective measures of neurologic function in a controlled, double-blinded setting, and to determine whether effects are sustained during daily cooling garment use.