The effects of cold water immersion and active recovery on inflammation and cell stress responses in human skeletal muscle after resistance exercise
Peake JM, Roberts LA, Figueiredo VC, Egner I, Krog S, Aas SN, Suzuki K, Markworth JF, Coombes JS, Cameron-Smith D, Raastad T
The Journal of physiology · 88 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Controlled clinical trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Mechanisms only
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Nonprofit
- American College of Sports Medicine
- University or hospital
- Queensland University of Technology
Based on 2 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2016-10-12 · J Physiol · vol. 595 · issue 3 · pp. 695–711
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Cited
- 147 citations · more than 99% of similar papers · 12.8× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 67 works
- Access
- Free to read
- Research areas
- Exercise and Physiological Responses · Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Heat shock proteins research
- Keywords
- Skeletal muscle, Inflammation, Immersion (mathematics), Medicine, Hsp70, Heat shock protein, Internal medicine, Chemistry, Endocrinology, Biochemistry
- MeSH
- muscle, skeletal, humans, inflammation, water, nerve growth factors, rna, messenger, cytokines, cryotherapy, immersion, neutrophil infiltration, adult, male, hsp70 heat-shock proteins, cold temperature, stress, physiological, resistance training, young adult
11 authors
From AU, NZ, NO, JP
- Jonathan M. Peake · correspondingQueensland University of Technology; Queensland Academy of Sport
- Llion Arwyn RobertsThe University of Queensland; Queensland Academy of Sport
- Vandré C. FigueiredoUniversity of Auckland
- Ingrid Marie EgnerUniversity of Oslo
- Simone KrogNorwegian School of Sport Sciences
- Sigve N. AasNorwegian School of Sport Sciences
Abstract
Key points
Cold water immersion and active recovery are common post-exercise recovery treatments. A key assumption about the benefits of cold water immersion is that it reduces inflammation in skeletal muscle. However, no data are available from humans to support this notion. We compared the effects of cold water immersion and 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. Exercise led to the infiltration of inflammatory cells, with increased mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and neurotrophins, and the subcellular translocation of heat shock proteins in muscle. These responses did not differ significantly between cold water immersion and active recovery. 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.
Abstract
Cold water immersion and active recovery are common post-exercise recovery treatments. However, little is known about whether these treatments influence inflammation and cellular stress in human skeletal muscle after exercise. We compared the effects of cold water immersion versus active recovery on inflammatory cells, pro-inflammatory cytokines, neurotrophins and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in skeletal muscle after intense resistance exercise. Nine active men performed unilateral lower-body resistance exercise on separate days, at least 1 week apart. On one day, they immersed their lower body in cold water (10°C) for 10 min after exercise. On the other day, they cycled at a low intensity for 10 min after exercise. Muscle biopsies were collected from the exercised leg before, 2, 24 and 48 h after exercise in both trials. Exercise increased intramuscular neutrophil and macrophage counts, MAC1 and CD163 mRNA expression (P < 0.05). Exercise also increased IL1β, TNF, IL6, CCL2, CCL4, CXCL2, IL8 and LIF mRNA expression (P < 0.05). As evidence of hyperalgesia, the expression of NGF and GDNF mRNA increased after exercise (P < 0.05). The cytosolic protein content of αB-crystallin and HSP70 decreased after exercise (P < 0.05). This response was accompanied by increases in the cytoskeletal protein content of αB-crystallin and the percentage of type II fibres stained for αB-crystallin. Changes in inflammatory cells, cytokines, neurotrophins and HSPs did not differ significantly between the recovery treatments. These findings indicate that cold water immersion is no more effective than active recovery for reducing inflammation or cellular stress in muscle after a bout of resistance exercise.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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