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Published on: June 8, 2017
Ice-water immersion and delayed-onset muscle soreness: a randomised controlled trial
Kylie Louise Sellwood1, Peter Brukner, David Williams
1Sports Physicians ACT, Deakin, ACT 2600, Australia. kyliesellwood@optusnet.com.au
Objective:
To determine if ice-water immersion after eccentric quadriceps exercise minimises the symptoms of delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
Design:
A prospective randomised double-blind controlled trial was undertaken. 40 untrained volunteers performed an eccentric loading protocol with their non-dominant leg.
Interventions:
Participants were randomised to three 1-min immersions in either ice water (5+/-1 degrees C) or tepid water (24 degrees C).
Main Outcome Measures:
Pain and tenderness (visual analogue scale), swelling (thigh circumference), function (one-legged hop for distance), maximal isometric strength and serum creatine kinase (CK) recorded at baseline, 24, 48 and 72 h after exercise. Changes in outcome measures over time were compared to determine the effect of group allocation using independent t tests or Mann-Whitney U tests.
Results:
No significant differences were observed between groups with regard to changes in most pain parameters, tenderness, isometric strength, swelling, hop-for-distance or serum CK over time. There was a significant difference in pain on sit-to-stand at 24 h, with the intervention group demonstrating a greater increase in pain than the control group (median change 8.0 vs 2.0 mm, respectively, p = 0.009).
Conclusions:
The protocol of ice-water immersion used in this study was ineffectual in minimising markers of DOMS in untrained individuals. This study challenges the wide use of this intervention as a recovery strategy by athletes.
