Intense exercise can cause muscle damage, nervous system fatigue and also inflammation of muscles. This in turn reduces a persons performance by making the muscles sore and reducing the muscles ability to function.
It is no uncommon for athletes to experience elevated muscle soreness and reductions in muscle function of up to 20% for several days after intense exercise.
Cold water immersion is said to help reduce the recovery time needed. It is claimed that the decreased recovery time is due to temperature and pressure changes during cold water immersion.
One mechanism of cold water immersion is that it is said to reduce blood flow to the muscles. The blood flow reduction is said to reduce cell inflammation which is closely linked to the sensation of pain as it reduces the osmotic pressure in the area.
The other proposed mechanism is due to a reduction in tissue temperature. This decrease is said to reduce enzyme activity and also reduce secondary cell death of the cells surrounding the damaged muscle.
It is important to mention that body composition has found to affect tissue cooling time. The more adipose (fat) tissue around the area that is trying to be cooled, the longer it takes.
Cold water Immersion has been found to alleviate DOMs at at 24,48,72 & 96 hours after post exercise. The immersion was found to help with DOMS after high intensity exercise for both 24 hours and 48 hours after high intensity exercise. It was also established that it helped improve the recovery of muscular power but not strength.
The important parts to take from the above are that:
• Having an ice cold bath will not stop DOM’s after strenuous exercise. It will however reduce the severity of it.
• The exact mechanism has not been pin pointed, the tissue temp and pressure changes are just hypothesises.
So there you go- If you have had a tough training session or workout. Don’t go and have a hot bath, run the cold tap, chuck some ice cubes in the frame and jump on in!
Leeder, J., Gissane, C., van Someren, K., Gregson, W., & Howatson, G. (2011). Cold water immersion and recovery from strenuous exercise: a meta-analysis. British journal of sports medicine, bjsports-2011.