Do athletes help ice baths?

Athletes performing at the highest level are sure that after hard matches tired muscles in the recovery are helped by ice baths. To this technique resorts two-time Olympic champion, the winner of Grand Slam tournaments tennis player Andy Murray. Even before he managed to climb to the top of the ATP rating, every time after the games he performed the same sequence of actions: a warm shower - a light snack - drinking water - a massage - an ice bath for 8 minutes.

Optimal water temperature

Of course, the bath for the first racket of the world is filled with water above 0 degrees Celsius. The British considers the optimum temperature of the fluid to be 8-10 degrees. In addition, ice cubes are placed in water. This method of immersion is considered sparing. Andy Murray is by no means the only professional sportsman practicing recovery by immersing the body in ice water. This is how the track and field athlete Jessica Ennis Hill acts. Only instead of a bath the girl uses an empty garbage container (in an upright position it is easier to relieve tension and inflammation from the legs).

Can we talk about the effectiveness and benefits of this method?

If you look at the titles of these eminent athletes, you probably will not have doubts that the chosen method of recovery is the only correct one. Only now the teaching can not yet give an unambiguous answer about the benefits of ice restoration procedures. For objective reasons, there are too few scientific studies in this area. For now, the sports world is divided into two oppositional camps: supporters and irreconcilable opponents of ice baths.

From the point of view of the supporters of the method

Supporters of this method emphasize the use of cold temperatures. So, many of us have got used to apply ice to a place of a trauma or a bruise to slow down the blood flow and prevent the formation of a bruise or swelling. Also, this simple procedure does include an easy analgesic effect. It's no secret that the body of an athlete after a grueling start undergoes tremendous overload. In addition to the heaviness in the muscles, often athletes get microdamages, which can subsequently provoke more serious injuries. An ice bath helps slow the blood flow and eliminate inflammation in the muscles. Of course, a complete immersion is not always required. For example, runners or football players suffer more often legs.

From the point of view of opponents

If for an ordinary person who accidentally draws a leg, ice guarantees relief, then for professional athletes cold recovery can turn into harm. What are the arguments of the opponents of ice baths? In fact, in addition to fighting inflammation, the slowing of blood flow provokes a decrease in protein synthesis. And this means that Jessica Ennis-Hill has to work harder in the gym. This should be remembered by amateur bodybuilders, who themselves prescribe restorative procedures. Otherwise, training in lifting weights will not bring the right result. After all, inflammatory processes after classes in the gym in this particular case are in themselves able to replace the recovery.

Study using anti-inflammatory drugs

Despite the fact that inflammation causes pain and discomfort in the body, in some cases, you do not need to block this process. This is partly confirmed by studies in which anti-inflammatory drugs were used (in particular ibuprofen.) In most cases, reducing inflammation gave the athlete a short-term relief and relief from muscle discomfort. At the same time, the recovery process slowed down considerably. It should be noted that a lot has been done to study the effect of anti-inflammatory drugs on the recovery processes of athletes. Let's briefly review the most revealing of them.

Depending on different age categories

For people older than 65 years, the course of anti-inflammatory drugs for 12 weeks produced tangible results. The researchers divided the participants into two groups, one of whom took a placebo. Those lovers of physical education, who took real medicine after training, noted a slight increase in the volume of muscle mass. Do you think there are many people in this age group who can replace an anti-inflammatory drug with an ice bath? Unfortunately, young athletes, whose physical form is at a peak, risk using synthetic drugs to slow down the recovery process.

Depending on the load

According to scientists, athletes who train on an amateur level and do not experience constant loads can alleviate the pain and discomfort in the muscles without resorting to medications. The ice bath in this case can be comparable to an ice pack applied after an injury or stretching. Occasionally, this method of recovery can be effective. But as we already know, for the athletes, whose many hours of training are daily, the ice bath does not have the proper effect.

Ice bath as an emergency way of recovery

Researcher Jonathan Peak recommends professional athletes to reconsider their recovery strategies. An employee of the University of Queensland and colleagues spent two weeks taking blood from biomarkers from athletes and performing a biopsy of the hip muscles. All the athletes were divided into two groups, one of whom, as a recovery after training, took an ice bath and another simply rested. In the end, analyzes in both groups of athletes did not reveal any discrepancies in the rates. And this means that the ability of ice water to remove inflammation is in general questioned.

In this regard, Professor Pick recommends that professional athletes reconsider the approach to recovery procedures. Probably, ice baths are suitable only as an emergency measure that reduces pain.