Weber State students have the chance to help conduct a research study and earn a few extra bucks while doing it.

A deep-heating study will be conducted this semester, and the students of Weber State have the opportunity to be a part of it. Each participant will have the chance to earn a $30 Amazon.com gift card.

There are a few qualifications to consider before applying.

Participants must be 18 to 26 years of age, have no lower-leg injuries within the last month and have no known vascular disease in the lower leg.

If anyone interested meets all these qualifications, they are one step closer to being accepted as a subject for testing.

Each volunteer must participate in three different heating sessions that last about 1 1/2 hours each to complete the study and earn a chance at the gift card.

The procedure involves a heating modality that will be applied to the back of the lower leg, followed by a needle thermometer inserted into the muscle. The needle is about the size of a regular injection needle.

To measure the temperature inside the muscle and on the skin, a surface thermometer will be placed on the back of the leg.

Claire Ely, one of the students in charge of the deep heating study, said the study will compare three deep heating modalities: ReBound diathermy, a small machine that applies deep heat to sore muscles, Megapulse diathermy, a pulsed, shortwave system and an ultrasound.

They want to see which one heats the calf muscle the most and which is able to retain the heat the longest after treatment.

The participant can still do whatever he or she would normally do while relaxing. This could include using their phone, doing homework or even taking a nap.

There will be a total of 25 students tested from now until the end of this semester.

For more information or to sign up for the study, contact either Claire Ely at [email protected], Diana Bocklund at [email protected] or Haley Evans at [email protected].