Many people may associate soaking in a hot bath with relieving aches and pains, but ice is also used as a remedy for post-exercise pain and inflammation. However, the degree to which icing is helpful after a workout is not entirely clear. If you are considering using ice as part of your post-workout routine, you should be clear about your goals and understand the research behind icing.
You may have heard about or seen athletes getting into an ice bath after strenuous exercise, such as following a marathon. Other types of ice remedies might include cold plunging in a body of water, such as a lake, or directly applying ice to an injury. Another option is an ice massage.
Ice works by decreasing inflammation in the body, which in turn reduces pain. However, this also means that if your goal is building strength, icing might actually slow the speed of muscle growth. This is because strength building occurs after your exertion causes small muscle tears. The pain, which is known as delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS, is a result of those tears. Ice may relieve that pain but might also mean that you do not make strength gains as rapidly as you expect.
Another situation in which you might use ice after a workout is if you have injured yourself. If you have a sprain or a similar injury, you should not apply the ice directly but wrap it in a towel or something similar so that you don’t harm your skin. An ice massage is an exception to this since the ice moves around on your skin instead of remaining in one place. Icing a workout injury is one of the traditional remedies, but some studies have even called this into question, suggesting that elevation and gentle movement may be among the more helpful responses.
Cold plunges can produce a feeling of well-being and even euphoria. However, they do not appear to offer any additional benefits. Whatever the effectiveness is of icing after exercise, experts generally agree that icing beforehand does not aid performance.
It is important to understand that even experts are not entirely in agreement on the effectiveness of icing and whether it should be used after exercise. As more experiments are conducted, recommendations may change. Despite some recent findings that question the usefulness of icing, many professional athletes continue to use it at the recommendation of their trainers. You may even want to experiment yourself and find out whether various forms of icing seem to improve your performance.
You should also observe certain precautions. For example, if you have vascular conditions or an open wound, an ice bath might not be safe. In addition, it is recommended that you keep your plunges shorter than 15 minutes and that the temperature should not be below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
One thing that appears to be certain is that icing reduces pain after exercise. If this is your primary goal, then you will probably benefit from icing. The jury appears to be out on the advantages and disadvantages of icing for other reasons, and further study may be needed to make conclusive recommendations.