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Ice Baths: Are they really worth it?!?

Hey guys, so for this post I decided to do some research into cold water therapy after training. The post will include the main benefits of this form of recovery with some guided research. Hope you enjoy and can take something from it!
Cryotherapy or cold water immersion is used readily in today's world by the top athletes across many different sports as it is seen as an effective way to relieve muscle fatigue and tiredness. But is it the best method? It is seen as common practice in sport from rugby players to elite runners to professional soccer players. But are we right to question it's worth? Let's see what the research says...

The theory behind ice baths is related to the fact that intense exercise causes microtrauma, which is tiny tears in your muscle fibers. This type of muscle damage is actually a goal of exercise as it stimulates muscle cell activity and helps repair the damage and strengthen the muscles (muscle hypertrophy). But it is also directly related with delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS), which occurs between 24 and 72 hours after training. 

There were originally 3 believed functions of the ice-bath:

  1. Constrict blood vessels and flush waste products, like lactic acid, out of the affected tissues. 
  2. Decrease metabolic activity and slow down physiological processes.
  3. Reduce swelling and tissue breakdown.
Following an ice bath, the muscles start to heat up again and with this, the increased blood flow is believed to speed up circulation, and in turn, improve the healing process. There is no 'ideal' time for having your body in an ice bath but usual practice would see athletes spending as little as 5 minutes and as much as 20 minutes in an ice bath.

See image below detailing the benefits of ice-baths!


While ice-baths are hyped up to be one of the best ways to recover from strenuous exercise like competition, are they really that good? Of course, they offer short-term pain relief to athletes but long-term they don't offer much. Research suggests that icing muscles immediately after maximal exercise suppresses inflammation, hinders muscle fiber growth, and delays muscle regeneration. This would be bad news for athletes who are trying to increase muscle size and strength.

While the research gives mixed emotions about the use of cryotherapy, it is in my opinion, the choice of the individual athlete and if they feel it helps them. Some athletes have highly recommended it as a great method for recovery after tough training sessions, while for others it's just not for them! If you are curios to see if this would help you why not try it out?? You could start out with having just a cold water bath rather than an ice bath. 

As I said before, it is each athlete to themselves and what works for you may certainly not work for the person standing next to you! 

Hope you guys found this interesting and useful. In the coming weeks I will have a post up on warm water therapy and I will link back in to this post to compare the benefits. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you found it! As always, feel free to share!

Talk Soon, 
Kate. 


References:
https://www.verywellfit.com/after-exercise-does-an-ice-water-bath-speed-recovery-3120571
https://www.cetcryospas.com/blog/the-benefits-of-ice-baths/

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