Cold-water baths may soothe aches, risks
“It’s purely a subjective feeling of less soreness,” he said.
And even though the studies, collectively, were able to report some improvement, they were not able to come up with a standard method of treatment.
“If you’re looking for the single prescription, it’s not available yet. And frankly it’s going to be different under different situations,” said Dr. Thomas Best, co-director of Ohio State University Sports Medicine, who was not involved in the research.
“We found some evidence that immersing yourself in cold water after exercise can reduce muscle soreness, but only compared to resting or doing nothing. Some caution around these results is advisable because the people taking part in the trials would have known which treatment they received, and some of the reported benefits may be due to a placebo response.
There may be better ways to reduce soreness, such as warm water immersion, light jogging or using compression stockings, but we don’t currently have enough data to reach any conclusions about these interventions.”
Best told Reuters Health that the new report does not answer how often an athlete should do the treatment, how long they should stay in the cold water or how long they should wait after they finish exercising.
He added that the average athlete should be careful before they think the results apply to them.
“Most of these studies are done in pretty elite athletes. So, their physiological reserves are probably greater than most people. I think you have to be careful that you don’t generalize these conditions to everyone,” he said.
Bleakley added that there might be other treatments that work just as well, but there is not enough evidence to compare them. He said they could include massages, stretching and just regular water immersion.
“There are numerous other recovery interventions that are probably not quite as uncomfortable,” said Bleakley.
They may be more cost effective, too. Cryotherapy costs can range from the price of filling up a tub with cold water to buying special “cold tub” units that look like a traditional hot tub.
The long-term effects of plunging in and out of bone-chilling water are not well known either.
“I think there still needs to be a degree of caution, especially in the sporting arena where the mantra is the no-pain, no-gain attitude,” said Bleakley.
SOURCE: The Cochrane Library, online February 15, 2012.
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Cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise
Chris Bleakley,
Suzanne McDonough,
Evie Gardner,
G. David Baxter,
J. Ty Hopkins,
Gareth W Davison