背景和目的：蠟療是一種淺層濕熱，浸泡石蠟浴後的肢體通常被建議必須包裹毛巾，以阻隔或減
緩熱能散失，然而目前臨床上對於毛巾包裹的層數尚無定論。本研究目的在探討毛巾包裹層數對
於蠟療產生皮膚表面溫度變化的影響。方法：招募 6位健康受試者（8位男性，8位女性），以浸泡與包裹技巧進行蠟療。手掌在石蠟浴槽浸泡2秒後，迅速離開浴槽，4秒後手掌再次浸泡，重覆此動作十次。手掌最後一次離開石蠟浴槽時，迅速用塑膠套包覆，接著用一層或三層乾毛巾包裹。以紅外線熱像儀與液晶溫度計分別紀錄毛巾最外層與皮膚表面的溫度。結果：包裹一層與三層毛巾在 6分鐘內造成皮膚表面平均溫度皆無達顯著統計差異（p>0.05）；反之，毛巾最外層平均溫度皆達顯著統計差異（p<0.05）。蠟療第 分鐘，包裹一層與三層毛巾可使皮膚表面平均溫度達到最高值，分別為43.2± .3℃與43.7±0.9℃。此外，不管毛巾包裹層數，在蠟療第3分鐘開始，皮膚表面的平均溫度皆低於40℃。結論：毛巾包裹層數並不會影響蠟療產生的皮膚表面溫度變化。（

Background and Purpose: Paraffin bath is a superficial, moist heat. After brief immersion in the paraffin bath, the treated area is often wrapped in towel(s) to decrease heat loss. In clinic,however, the layers of the folded towel have not been well established. In this study, the effect
of the folded towel layers on the skin surface temperature was investigated. Methods: Sixteen healthy volunteers (eight females and eight males) participated in this study. The subjects submerged
the right hand in the paraffin bath 10 times with a 4-minute interval to permit a layer of paraffin to solidify. The right hand was covered with a plastic sheet and wrapped in one or three layers of towel for about 16 minutes. The temperatures at the skin surface and the most outer
layer of the folded towel were recorded with a sampling rate of 1 Hz using digital thermometer and infrared thermography, respectively.
Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean skin temperature between one and three layers of folded towel for each minute during a 16-minute paraffin application (p>0.05), whereas the mean temperature at the most outer layer of the folded towel could reach the significant level (p<0.05). In the first minute of paraffin application, the skin temperature could reach the maximum level of 43.2±1.3℃ and
43.7±0.9℃ for one and three layers of towel, respectively. In addition, the skin temperatures dropped below 40℃ from the 3rd minutes regardless the folded towel layers. Conclusion: Paraffin bath-induced skin temperature changes could not be affected by the folded towel layers.