Effects of Cold Water Immersion and Contrast Water Therapy for Recovery From Team Sport: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Higgins TR, Greene DA, Baker MK

Journal of strength and conditioning research · May 1, 2017

To enhance recovery from sport, cold water immersion (CWI) and contrast water therapy (CWT) have become common practice within high level team sport. Twenty-three peer reviewed articles (n = 606) met the criteria. Meta-analyses results indicated CWI was beneficial for recovery at 24 hours (countermovement jump: p = 0.05; all-out sprint: p = 0.02) following team sport. The CWI was beneficial for recovery at 72 hours (fatigue: p = 0.03) and CWT was beneficial for recovery at 48 hours (fatigue: p = 0.04) following team sport. The CWI was beneficial for neuromuscular recovery 24 hours following team sport, whereas CWT was not beneficial for neuromuscular recovery following team sport. In evaluating subjective measures, both CWI (72 hours) and CWT (24 hours) were beneficial for recovery of perceptions of fatigue, following team sport. However neither CWI nor CWT was beneficial for recovery of perceptions of muscle soreness, following team sport.

PMID: 27398915 · DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001559