Cold water immersion is one of the most common modalities used by sports teams to enhance recovery from training and competing in athletes. Following intensive training or a competition, athletes reluctantly submerge their lower body in ice-cold water. Athletes often report that this reduces pain and soreness following training. Its impact on performance recovery is less clear, however, as the research tends to be conflicting. Of note, its been shown that chronic use of cold water immersion following resistance training can impair strength and hypertrophy gains. It is thought that blunting the inflammatory response through cold water immersion may be responsible for the attenuated size and strength gains. Needless to say, more research is needed for coaches to understand when and how to implement cold water immersion with athletes.
A new study published ahead of print in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research evaluated the effects of cold water immersion on subjective and objective markers of recovery. A club rugby team comprised of 16 male athletes (~20 years old) were split into a cold water immersion group and a control group (n = 8 for each group). All subjects performed a simulated rugby match to induce fatigue and muscle damage. Before, following and at 24 and 48 hours post-training, counter-movement jump, maximal voluntary isometric contraction, serum creatine kinase and perceived muscle soreness were evaluated. The cold water immersion protocol involved the lower limbs being submerged in 10 degree Celsius water for 2 rounds of 5 minutes with 2.5 minutes rest between rounds. The control condition involved seated passive rest for 15 minutes while drinking a sports drink.
The results showed that at 24 and 48 hours post-training, perceived soreness levels were lower for the immersion group compared with the control group. Creatine kinase levels progressively increased across time for the control group but did not substantially increase for the immersion group. Countermovement jump performance decreased similarly in both groups post-training but demonstrated better recovery to baseline at 24 and 48 hours in the immersion group. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction followed a similar trend as countermovement jump performance. The authors conclude that repeated cold water immersion following competitions may alleviate the effects of training-induced muscle damage and speed up performance recovery.
Barber, S. et al. The Efficacy of Repeated Cold Water Immersion on Recovery Following a Simulated Rugby Union Protocol. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. In press.