If you have ever competed in competitive sports,
or if you’re like me and tried to squat your body weight without warming up,
you have probably considered taking an ice bath to alleviate post-workout
pains. From F1 drivers, to NFL
players, to college soccer players, ice baths are a ritual that athletes and
coaching staffs are religiously committed to. Throughout my athletic career,
ice baths were always the golden standard for recovery. If I had access to an
ice bath, chances are I would be soaking in it for 15 minutes after a hard
workout. Unfortunately for my past self, those painful, icy soaks may have
actually been hindering my recovery.
Firstly, what would we expect to see after an
intense workout without ice bathing? We would expect to see phosphorylation of
p70s6 kinase, which is a protein involved in the mTor pathway that contributes
to muscle growth when phosphorylated (Terzin et al., 2007). We would also
expect to see an increased number of satellite cells. Satellite cells are
activated after exercise or muscle injury and essentially help rebuild the
muscle by proliferating and fusing with myofibers, creating new myonuclei
(Bazgir et al., 2017; Roberts et al., 2015). Essentially, satellite cells help
rebuild skeletal muscle after exercise and contribute to muscle hypertrophy,
thus we would expect to see activation of these cells after an intense workout.
Finally and most intuitively, we would expect to see muscle growth or
hypertrophy over time.
So what happens regarding these
recovery mechanisms if we ice bath after a workout? Roberts et al. asked these
questions through a series of studies conducted in 2015, in which two groups of
young men given a lifting routine but only one of these groups received ice
baths afterwards. The results were contradictory to everything I have been told
about ice baths in the past. Researchers found the ice bath group displayed
lower levels of phosphorylated kinase, less myonuclei in type II muscle fibers,
fewer satellite cells, and overall decreased muscle mass after 12 weeks
(Roberts et al., 2015).
This study has prompted the
researchers to reevaluate what was previously thought of as the ideal recovery.
However, the sports community has not yet caught up with the current research.
More research must be conducted before we can totally rule out ice bathing, but
at the very least athletes must start questioning what recovery methods serve
their body’s best in the long run. So next time you squat before warming up,
think twice about hopping in an ice bath!
Terzis,
G., Georgiadis, G., Stratakos, G., Vogiatzis, I., Kavouras, S., Manta, P., …
Blomstrand, E. (2007). Resistance exercise-induced increase in muscle mass
correlates with p70S6 kinase phosphorylation in human subjects. European
Journal of Applied Physiology, 102(2), 145–152. doi: 10.1007/s00421-007-0564-y
Bazgir,
B., Fathi, R., Rezazadeh Valojerdi, M., Mozdziak, P., & Asgari, A. (2017).
Satellite Cells Contribution to exercise mediated muscle hypertrophy and repair. Cell
journal, 18(4), 473–484. doi:10.22074/cellj.2016.4714
Roberts,
L. A., Raastad, T., Markworth, J. F., Figueiredo, V. C., Egner, I. M., Shield,
A., … Peake, J. M. (2015). Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute
anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength
training. The Journal of physiology, 593(18),
4285–4301. doi:10.1113/JP270570
As someone that enjoys working out, I found this post very interesting! I once did a sprint triathlon and they had various ice baths available to soak in after the race. I had always wondered about the reasoning behind them in the first place. I did some research and found that they were originally designed to decrease inflammation after a strenuous workout but did not have any proof that this was the case (Allan & Mawhinney 2017). I was wondering if you think ice baths may be beneficial depending on the type of exercise that is performed? Possibly exercises that are more high impact could benefit since runners, for example, often have to ice their joints after long, strenuous runs.
ReplyDeleteI also looked into another form of an ice bath called cryotheraphy. This is when people stand in a booth-type apparatus and are subjected to below freezing temperatures but not submerged in water. A study was done with this and it's effects on runners' bodies post-training sessions, but no real correlation was found (Crystal et al., 2013).
Overall, I think the thought behind subjecting someone to cold temperatures after a strenuous workout is there, but no evidence to support its effectiveness.
Citations:
Allan, R., & Mawhinney, C. (2017). Is the ice bath finally melting? Cold water immersion is no greater than active recovery upon local and systemic inflammatory cellular stress in humans. The Journal of physiology, 595(6), 1857.
Crystal, N. J., Townson, D. H., Cook, S. B., & LaRoche, D. P. (2013). Effect of cryotherapy on muscle recovery and inflammation following a bout of damaging exercise. European journal of applied physiology, 113(10), 2577-2586.
While it seems that research shows no benefit to icing after a work out for building muscle mass, are there possibly other benefits? Joints in particular and recovery after injury? As an athlete myself, recovering from previous injuries I always felt better after icing the injured joint after workouts. In initial treatment of injury as well, ice is recommended. It sounds to me as though the fitness community took icing too far however and applied it to muscle building which from the articles is not helpful and actually harmful. This highlights to me the importance of the ethical principle of non-maleficence and making sure that what we recommend is not harmful. While icing may be beneficial for injury, it is not beneficial to aiding muscle building. Thanks for the update on icing and hopefully the fitness community catches up to the research!
ReplyDeleteHere is an article supporting the benefits of icing after surgery.
DeleteSaito, N., Horiuchi, H., Kobayashi, S., Nawata, M., & Takaoka, K. (2004). Continuous local cooling for pain relief following total hip arthroplasty. The Journal of Arthroplasty, 19(3), 334–337. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2003.10.011
This was a very interesting topic to read about as I spent my high school days in ice baths after cheer practice, multiple times a week. At the time, as I'm sure it still is, it definitely was a common form of therapy for a majority of the kids involved in sports. I never put much thought into the physiological effects of ice baths at the time and really thought that it only helped because it almost made you numb to the pain and soreness that you had. Personally, I despise taking any sort of medication to alleviate any kind of pain from it being either minor or major, so an ice bath was a good alternative to that. I guess I am wondering whether or not the benefits of an ice bath outweigh the fact that it decreases muscle mass over time; especially if muscle mass can be generated by doing a different exercise that your body might adapt to better and maybe then not even need an ice bath for afterwards.
ReplyDelete