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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is one of the most common sleep disorders in North America, affecting approximately 15-30% of men and 10-15% o... -
Alright, so this blog post is a bit long, but I loved this couple, and his story is pretty typical for people dealing with chronic heart f... -
It seems almost a right of passage in ones life to be asked the hypothetical “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you...
Here is the study.
ReplyDeleteGrant, M.-E., Steffen, K., & Palmer, D. (2021). The usage of multidisciplinary physical therapies at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Summer Games: an observational study. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy, 25(3), 262–270.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjpt.2020.06.001
Thanks Maddie, that was an interesting read! It makes me wonder if it's even ever worth using Icy Hot again. Icy Hot doesn't actually reduce the inflammation but it creates minor inflammation in surrounding areas to dampen the pain we experience from the primary site of inflammation.
ReplyDeleteI knew that cold water immersion aids in recovery but I didn't know that it had so many physiological benefits. However, I do wonder if there is a point where cold water immersion could be detrimental. Some levels of inflammation does promote muscle growth so I do wonder if repeated and prolonged water immersion can slow muscle growth.
As a side note, I've been pretty interested in how the chemical curcumin from turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties. Some people use it for chronic inflammatory conditions but it also benefits for exercise-induced muscle damage. Here's the article if you're interested:
Fernández-Lázaro, D., Mielgo-Ayuso, J., Seco Calvo, J., Córdova Martínez, A., Caballero García, A., & Fernandez-Lazaro, C. I. (2020). Modulation of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage, Inflammation, and Oxidative Markers by Curcumin Supplementation in a Physically Active Population: A Systematic Review. Nutrients, 12(2), 501. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12020501
Hi Maddie! I too have experienced the helpful effects of the ice bath, but when I am sitting in one, I cannot help but think, “Is this even helping?” I found the physiological reasons why they are good very interesting in your post, but I wanted to see if the duration, temperature, and time after a workout mattered. I found an article that is at the bottom of my comment, and it is more geared towards fighters, but I thought it was eye opening. In the article, the author points out that body fat and body mass are important when considering ice bathing as a therapy.
ReplyDeleteIf you are low BF or low BM, you should be taking lower intensity ice baths such as 15 degrees Celsius for 8-10 minutes. If you are a high BF or high BM, then you should be taking a higher intensity ice bath such as 10 degrees Celsius for 8-10 minutes. The reason behind this is because sitting in the ice bath cools down your core temperature which constricts blood vessels to decrease swelling or inflammation (as you said). If the bath is not cold enough for your BF or BM, then you are not getting the most out of the therapy; therefore, you are just putting yourself through a very uncomfortable 10 minutes for no real reason. If it is too cold, then you could be doing your body a disservice by putting it in stress and shock for too long.
He also mentioned that it is not recommended to ice bath if you are trying to put on muscle mass. The reason is because the cold temperatures reduces the body’s ability to uptake dietary protein, making it difficult to create new muscle.
In the article he also mentioned that if you ice bath too consistently, your body will adapt to it which will require even colder temperatures for you to feel the same effect. I do not think there is a perfect way to ice bath, but it was beneficial for me to see that there is more to ice bathing than just getting in a tub for 10 minutes and trying not to cry. Being mindful about the time and the temperature as well as what training block I am in is important and it is not just a simple decision.
https://sweetscienceoffighting.com/science-of-ice-bath-recovery-for-fighters-in-depth-guide/
Hi Maddie! Thank you for the interesting article and description! As an athlete myself, I do not enjoy ice baths but have relied on them quite often for recovery after games and conditioning sessions. I have also found an article (pasted below) about different recovery techniques. In this article by researchers at Frontiers in Physiology, they found a few different techniques of recovery that can be accompanied with ice baths to help aid in muscle soreness. Their techniques include: massages, compression garments, active recovery, cryotherapy, and stretching. In this particular article, massage therapy was deemed to be the most effective in muscle inflammation recovery as well as increase in muscle mass after a session of training. In my personal opinion, I think that ice baths could be combined with other activities of recovery, such as massages, to give the most effective recovery; I would love to hear your input on this as well if you have a chance!
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00403/full?dom=prime&src=syn
Laboratoire MOVE (EA6314), Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
This is a great conversation from all. After I read your post, my mind immediately went to percussive recovery devices, like a theragun, or hypervolt, which I personally use. These devices have become increasingly popular, and at this point are just about everywhere. But do they actually work as well as some of these other recovery techniques? The answer is yes! I found one study that indicated the use of percussive recovery was equally as effective as traditional massage, at preventing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and was effective at reducing lactate levels, 48 hours after exercise. This is greatly beneficial in terms of recovery, and is great evidence to support the widespread use of these devices.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939523/
It is interesting that ice baths and massages helps us recovery, it seems like these techniques are the cheapest alternative to recovery. I am pretty sure you know this, but I would like to also add a few other alternatives. One of them being the consumption of proteins. Our body is made mostly of proteins. Amino acids acquired from consumption is vital for muscle recovery. It rebuilds fibers that was broken down during training. Another alternative would be consuming enough water. Based on Marc Pro’s blog on muscle recovery, water helps fill up cells, preventing the cells being used up in protein synthesis (Pro, 2015). Another alternative is getting enough sleep. We produce specific proteins from our brain’s pituitary gland called Human Growth Hormone which plays an important factor in growth and tissue repair. Human Growth Hormones are slowly released in our deep sleep. When we age, we get less sleep, so therefore we get less Human Growth Hormones, which means it takes a while to recover (Fleming, 2019). All the methods that you have mentioned in combination with the methods that I mentioned will definitely contribute to a faster recovery.
ReplyDeleteFleming, N. (2019, April 21). The Secrets of Sports Recovery. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/21/the-secrets-of-sports-recovery
Pro, M. (2015, June 6). Marc Pro. Retrieved from 10 Best Muscle Recovery Techniques for Athletes: https://marcpro.com/blog/10-best-muscle-recovery-techniques-for-athletes/
Hi Maddie,
ReplyDeleteCold water therapy in the form of ice baths has been shown to decrease inflammation and therefore local pain, there are some concerns on how benificial it actually is. There is increasing research that shows that this type of therapy actually provides very little, if any, therapeutic benifit. Of course, there are conflicting studies, but it seems as if the studies that show little benifit outnumber those that show more benificial outcomes. There are also several studies that show that active recovery is better for the long term and is more benificial. However, it is necesary to use both where they are needed. Some athletes cannot perform the exercises needed for active recovery, so cold water therapy may be a good alternative until they are able to perform active recovery. A problem for some athletes is many think that it is a cure-all, even though it is only supposed to be used as a tool to feel better after a hard workout and to feel less sore after. This kind of therapy must be used with other forms, both preventative and recovery based therapies in order to get the most effects from all of them.
Sources:
Higgins, T. R., Greene, D. A., & Baker, M. K. (2017). Effects of Cold Water Immersion and Contrast Water Therapy for Recovery From Team Sport: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(5), 1443–1460. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001559
Tipton, M. J., Collier, N., Massey, H., Corbett, J., & Harper, M. (2017). Cold water immersion: kill or cure?. Experimental physiology, 102(11), 1335–1355. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1113/EP086283
Peake, J. M., Roberts, L. A., Figueiredo, V. C., Egner, I., Krog, S., Aas, S. N., Suzuki, K., Markworth, J. F., Coombes, J. S., Cameron-Smith, D., & Raastad, T. (2017). The effects of cold water immersion and active recovery on inflammation and cell stress responses in human skeletal muscle after resistance exercise. The Journal of physiology, 595(3), 695–711. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1113/JP272881