Cold Water Immersion

Cold Water Immersion (CWI) or ice baths is typically used amongst athletes (in the US) to help deal with pain and preparation for the next practice. However, it’s been getting a lot of attention amongst the general population (in the US) to mimic potential “restorative” results.

Protocols:

There are MANY protocols people use, different temperatures for different length of time, added with contrast baths etc… The CWI protocols may have different results for each person based on skin fold thickness, muscular density, threshold to stay in X temperature etc…

For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on ice baths (cold water immersion) excluding specific time and temperatures, focusing on the efficacy for recovery.

Cold Water Immersion Studies

“*Active Recovery vs. Cold Water Immersion”

*Active recovery, is typically done with a low intensity workout with some stretches (passive/dynamic) and some form of foam rolling.

Study: “Intramuscular Temperature Changes in the Quadriceps Femoris Muscle After Post-Exercise Cold-Water Immersion (10°C/ 50°F for 10 min): A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis” – Peake et al.

Compared CWI to active recovery on “inflammatory and cellular stress responses in skeletal muscle from exercise-trained men 2, 24 and 48 h during recovery after acute resistance exercise.”

Results: “Our results suggest that cold water immersion is no more effective than active recovery for minimizing the inflammatory and stress responses in muscle after resistance exercise.”

Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5285720/

Another study finding that CWI is no greater than active recovery for systemic inflammatory stress.

Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350472/

“Impairs Muscular Development”

Study: “Post exercise cooling impairs muscle protein synthesis rates in recreational athletes” – Fuchs et al.

Results: “Cold-water immersion during recovery from resistance-type exercise lowers the capacity of the muscle to take up and/or direct dietary protein-derived amino acids towards de novo myofibrillar protein accretion. In addition, cold-water immersion during recovery from resistance-type exercise lowers myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during prolonged resistance-type exercise training. Individuals aiming to improve skeletal muscle conditioning should reconsider applying cooling as a part of their post exercise recovery strategy.” Fuchs et al.

Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31788800/

“Team Post Recovery for Cold Water Immersion (CWI) vs. Contrast Water Therapy (CWT).”

Study: “Effects of Cold Water Immersion and Contrast Water Therapy for Recovery From Team Sport: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” – Higgins et al.

Results: “In evaluating subjective measures, both CWI (72 hours) and CWT (24 hours) were beneficial for recovery of perceptions of fatigue, following team sport. However neither CWI nor CWT was beneficial for recovery, of perceptions of muscle soreness, following team sport.”

Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27398915/

“Cold Water Immersion Stunts Hypertrophy”

Study: “Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signaling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training”

Result: “CWI attenuates the acute changes in satellite cell numbers and activity of kinases that regulate muscle hypertrophy, which may translate to smaller long-term training gains in muscle strength and hypertrophy. The use of CWI as a regular post-exercise recovery strategy should be reconsidered.”

Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594298/

My Thoughts:

I want to first preface that I believe some general population fitness goers want to train like athletes and take it to the extreme. They want to find an edge, i.e. “biohacking”, but in reality covering your basis like getting enough sleep, lifting with good form, pro/re-gressing runs/sprints, healthy eating habits, etc… is what the majority should be focusing on.

With that said, it seems the biggest concern about CWI is stunting muscle development (hypertrophy). This has shown to be true but by how much and does the CWI recovery help you sustain your workouts for the long term? Alternatively, maybe the person should figure out why they need CWI to deal with workouts? If the person focused on better technique, addressing weak points, or de-loading, maybe that will help deal with the underlying issue?

In my experience, CWI can be a beneficial method for recovery but isn’t a practical solution for the general fitness enthusiast. Most people do not have a cold plunge tub or enough ice to make the tub cold enough. Second, using your bath tub can be cumbersome vs. doing an active recovery workout.

With that said, if you have access, the time, and are strong enough to withstand the cold, I see no issues with doing it a few times a week.

For competitive athletics it’s a completely different context, they need to get prepared for the next match, workout, off-season etc… so while CWI may stunt muscular development, it can potentially help them sustain performance for the season.