Cold water immersion

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Weightlifter Karyn S. Marshall in the cold water bath as part of her exercise program

The ice bath (abbreviated KWI , also known as ice water immersion called) is a cold-therapeutic measure that is used to regenerate muscles after sporting excellence. The stressed muscle parts or limbs are immersed for 5 to a maximum of 20 minutes in water that is tempered to 12 to 15 degrees Celsius, and sometimes colder. This then leads to increased blood flow to the muscles and consequently to an increased supply of nutrients and removal of metabolic waste products, which among other things should shorten the regeneration time of the muscles and prevent or reduce muscle soreness (DOMS, delayed-onset muscle soreness ).

application

This treatment has been carried out for a number of years, particularly in the case of athletes, swimmers or footballers who have to contest competitions or games in relatively short succession at major sporting events such as the Olympic Games or World Championships. The method came to Europe from the USA. Before that, muscle regeneration was only carried out with water that was almost body temperature in the so-called "fatigue pool". The treatment takes place several times after the training or the competition, either on the same day or on several consecutive days.

effectiveness

In general, cold water immersion can only be expected to be effective after physical activity in which strong mechanical stress on the muscles and consequently damage to the muscle tissue (EIMD, exercise-induced muscle damage ) occurred ( e.g. through intensive strength training ), but not after long-term physical activity that primarily requires endurance or should train. Furthermore, an application is considered to be generally useful, especially in those types of sport in which there is regular physical contact and / or injury to soft tissue in competition and training . However, it is unclear which treatment times are optimal at which temperatures (although it can be assumed that the optimal treatment is specific to the type of sport and / or training), whether the treatment has any statistically significant effects at all and to what extent these are psychological effects ( placebo Effect ) could act.

The German sports scientist Arnd Krüger cited two studies in 2011 in which cold water immersion was compared with the traditional warm water bath in the dehydration pool on the basis of the performance and signs of fatigue of football players treated accordingly during a tournament. Both the performance of the players treated with cold water immersion were highly significantly better and the symptoms of fatigue were highly significantly lower. An evaluation of 17 studies with a total of 366 participants by the Cochrane Collaboration (2012) gave indications that cold water immersion could actually be effective against sore muscles, but the quality of the studies was classified as low overall: possible complications were not sufficiently taken into account and comparative data there is only limited availability of other treatment methods.

A study found a significant effect of the KWI on muscle swelling as a result of heavy stress: while in the test subjects who received KWI, the muscle was largely swollen again after 24 hours, this was the case in the control group after 168 hours.

In a randomized blind study with 50 participants, which examined the effect of the KWI on the occurrence of muscle soreness as a result of thigh strength training, a ten-minute application at 6 degrees Celsius led to the best result, but the differences to the control groups were not statistically significant.

More recent studies also paint a mixed picture. An open-label study of 17 to 20-year-old soccer players from the Tunisian first division club Jeunesse Sportive Kairouanaise showed that they achieved better times during and immediately after the second of two 1000-meter runs, or a higher oxygen saturation in the muscles and a lower heart rate when they were given a 10-minute cold water immersion (11 to 12 degrees Celsius) between runs. Other studies, however, came to the conclusion that repeated cold water immersions (10 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes) could alleviate muscle damage and sore muscles caused by strong mechanical stress (in the study achieved by a kind of squat jump exercise), but had no effect systemic inflammation (as a reaction of the body to muscle overuse) and restoration of muscle performance, or that neither whole body cryotherapy nor cold water immersion (10 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes) during the recovery period after intense strength training produce better results than one Treatment with placebo (in the form of a cornstarch tablet, which was sold as a BCAA preparation) lead.

Trivia

Cold water immersion became known under the name “ ice bin ” primarily through a remark made by soccer player Per Mertesacker during an interview after the exhausting round of 16 match of the German national team at the 2014 World Cup .

literature

  • Michael Fröhlich, Oliver Faude, Jan Neubauer, Markus Klein, Andrea Pieter, Eike Emrich, Tim Meyer: Strength training effects after regenerative cold water immersion. In: Lutz Nitsche, Dennis Sandig (eds.): Sports medicine and triathlon: Congress volume for the 2nd Sports Medicine Symposium 2012. Norderstedt 2012, pp. 15–37 (free full text on Researchgate )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fatimah Lateef: Post exercise ice water immersion: Is it a form of active recovery? In: Journal of Emergencies, Trauma and Shock. Volume 3, No. 3, 2010, pp. 302–303 (www.onlinejets.org)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Philip D. Glasgow, Roisin Ferris, Chris M. Bleakley: Cold water immersion in the management of delayed-onset muscle soreness: Is dose important? A randomized controlled trial. In: Physical Therapy in Sport. Volume 15, No. 4, November 2014, pp. 228-233, doi: 10.1016 / j.ptsp.2014.01.002
  3. ↑ a b Chris Bleakley, Suzanne McDonough, Evie Gardner, G. David Baxter, JT Hopkins, Gareth W. Davison: Cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise. In: The Cochrane Library. No. 2, 2012, doi: 10.1002 / 14651858.CD008262.pub2
  4. ^ A b c Angelina Freitas Siqueira, Amilton Vieira, Martim Bottaro, João Batista Ferreira-Júnior, Otávio de Toledo Nóbrega, Vinícius Carolino de Souza, Rita de Cássia Marqueti, Nicolas Babault, João Luiz Quagliotti Durigan: Multiple Cold-Water Muscle Immersions Attenuate Damage but not Alter Systemic Inflammation and Muscle Function Recovery: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial. In: Scientific Reports. Volume 8, No. 1, 2018, Item No. 10961, doi: 10.1038 / s41598-018-28942-5
  5. ^ A b Arnd Krüger: Cold or warm water. In: competitive sport . Volume 41, No. 3, 2011, pp. 38-39. (available as a PDF in the journal's online archive on the server of the University of Leipzig )
  6. ↑ a b L. J. Wilson, L. Dimitriou, FA Hills, MB Gondek, E. Cockburn: Whole body cryotherapy, cold water immersion, or a placebo following resistance exercise: a case of mind over matter? In: European Journal of Applied Physiology. Volume 119, No. 1, 2018, pp. 135-147, doi: 10.1007 / s00421-018-4008-7
  7. ↑ Hamza Boujezza, Amal Sghaier, Mohamed Ben Rejeb, Imene Gargouri, Imed Latiri, Helmi Ben Saad: Effets de l'immersion en eau froide sur la récupération physique des jeunes footballeurs. In: La Tunisie medicale. Volume 96, No. 2, 2018, pp. 107-112, PMID 30324975