Many elite athletes, from marathoners to gridiron stars to starting pitchers, practically swear by icing up as a way to promote healing. But this nearly universal post-race/game/workout ritual now looks like nothing more than proof that the placebo effect is alive and well. In a 2007 study in the Journal of Sports Sciences, men who completed a punishing 90-minute shuttle run and then eased themselves into a 50-degree bathtub for ten minutes told researchers afterward that they were sure they were less sore than they would have been without the bath. Yet their levels of creatine kinase, a hallmark of muscle damage, remained the same as in runners who hadn’t soaked. Also in 2007, in one of the few randomized controlled tests examining the popular practice, 40 volunteers did seated leg extensions until near exhaustion. Afterward, half sat in lukewarm water while the other half sat in an ice bath. Next day, those who’d ice-bathed were just as sore as the control group. In fact, the ice bathers reported more pain than the others during a test in which they were asked to rise out of a chair using their tired leg for support. The authors concluded that the “protocol of ice-water immersion was ineffectual.”
Get over it: If you like freezing your butt off, soak away, but the benefits are strictly psychological. Any physiological effects won’t last longer than the ice itself.
Comments
Terrible article. First of all 50 degrees is hardly considered an "ice" bath. Second, ice bath are used to reduce swelling not to stimulate healing.
Flag ThisHow can different people rate soreness? I am way more sore than you! No you're not. Sounds like pretty subjective science to me
Flag Thisthis whole thing is preposterous, subjective, understudied, mis-worded, half scienced crap. I dont see how this made it past the editor....
Flag ThisThis is quite possibly the dumbest list and evidence I have ever seen posted. There is no merit to anything I have read so far.
Flag ThisI went for a 3 hour trail run in the mountains and could barely get out of the car when I got home - the stiffness in my legs was horrendous. I put 4 x 5kg bags of ice in the bath, put in a little water, sat in there for 15 minutes and my legs were 100% - sorry definitely does work. In fact the best recovery treatment for legs I know of.
Flag ThisMy coach indicates an ice bath specifically for running, distances over 8 miles or time over 2 hours. None of the test groups engaged in activities that icing is recommended for. This is just stupid and the experiments quoted were poorly designed, unless they were meant to prove that icing isn't for short term efforts.
Flag ThisGretchen, FAIL! haha! I can't read anymore of these articles. You are not a journalist nor do you have any fitness, science or health merit whatsoever! I'm wondering how you got these articles "published" at all??
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