What Parameters Influence the Effect of Cold-Water Immersion on Muscle Soreness? An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Batista NP, de Carvalho FA, Machado AF, Micheletti JK, Pastre CM
Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine · 8 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
- Meta-analysis (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2022-11-11 · Clin J Sport Med · vol. 33 · issue 1 · pp. 13–25
- Publisher
- Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
- Cited
- 11 citations · more than 50% of similar papers · 0.5× the field average
- References
- 76 works
- Access
- Open access (repository copy) · OTHER-OA
- Research areas
- Exercise and Physiological Responses · Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- Medicine, Meta-analysis, Confidence interval, Immersion (mathematics), Muscle damage, Randomized controlled trial, Physical therapy, Mean difference, Surgery, Internal medicine
- MeSH
- muscle, skeletal, humans, water, cryotherapy, immersion, cold temperature, myalgia
5 authors
From BR
- Natanael P. Batista · correspondingUniversidade do Oeste Paulista; Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
- Flávia Alves de Carvalho · correspondingUniversidade do Oeste Paulista; Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
- Aryane Flauzino Machado · correspondingUniversidade do Oeste Paulista; Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
- Jéssica Kirsch Micheletti · correspondingUniversidade do Oeste Paulista; Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
- Carlos Marcelo Pastre · correspondingUniversidade do Oeste Paulista; Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Abstract
Objective
Our objective was to determine the efficacy of cold-water immersion (CWI) on the management of muscle soreness to identify the impact of immersion time, water temperature, CWI protocol, and type of exercise on this outcome.
Design
Intervention systematic review and meta-analysis.
Setting
MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, Central, and SPORTDiscus databases were searched from their earliest record to July 30, 2020. Only randomized controlled trials that assessed muscle soreness comparing CWI and control were included. Studies were pooled in different subgroups regarding the used protocol: water temperature (severe or moderate cold), immersion time (short, medium, or longer time), CWI protocol (intermittent or continuous application), and type of exercise (endurance or resistance exercise). Data were pooled in a meta-analysis and described as weighted mean difference (95% confidence interval, P < 0.05).
Participants
Athletes and nonathletes.
Interventions
Cold-water immersion and control condition.
Main outcome measures
Muscle soreness.
Results
Forty-four studies were included. For immediate effects, CWI was superior to control regardless of water temperature and protocol, and for short and medium immersion times and endurance exercises. For delayed effects, CWI was superior to control in all subgroups except longer immersions time.
Conclusions
This study suggests that CWI is better than control for the management of muscle soreness and water temperature and CWI protocol do not influence this result, but only short and medium immersions times presented positive effects. Aiming immediate effects, the best results suggest CWI application only after endurance exercises, while delayed effect CWI was superior both after endurance and resistance exercises.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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