Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the physiological data from subjects and their reported sensory experiences during two types of recovery methods following a handball training session. Female handball players (average age: 21.4 ± 1.3 years; weight: 59.2 ± 3.3 kg; height: 158 ± 3 cm; body mass index, 23.4 ± 2.0 kg.m−2) carried out an athletic training session (rating of perceived exertion RPE: 14.70 ± 0.89) with either a passive recovery (PR) period or cold water immersion (CWI) for 14 min) (cross-over design). Physiological data were collected during the recovery period: CWI had a greater effect than PR on heart rate (HR; bpm), the higher frequencies (HF) of heart rate variability (HRV: 46.44 ± 21.50 vs. 24.12 ± 17.62), delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS: 1.37 ± 0.51 vs. 2.12 ± 1.25), and various reported emotional sensations. Spectrum HRV analysis showed a significant increase in HF during CWI. Sensorial experiences during the recovery periods were gathered from verbatim reports 24 h later. Players' comments about CWI revealed a congruence between the physiological data and sensorial reports. They used words such as: “thermal shock,” “regeneration,” “resourcefulness,” “dynamism,” and “disappearance of pain” to describe their sensations. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the link between physiological and experiential data during CWI and we propose that action of the parasympathetic system on the autonomic nervous system can, at least in part, explain the observed correlations between the corporeal data measured and the sensorial experiences reported.
Highlights
Athletes often experience high levels of fatigue due to high training-loads, as well as frequent competitions (Hausswirth et al, 2011; Versey et al, 2013)
The sensorial data was evaluated using a method previously described by Andrieu and Gerardin (2012) called “emersiology” where “emersiology” was defined as “a reflexive science dealing with the emersion of sentient life from the consciously experienced body” where “emersion is the involuntary movement, within our bodies, of connections, humors and images of which only the tip reaches our awareness” (Andrieu and Gerardin, 2012; Andrieu and Burel, 2014)
With regards to the spectral heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, a significant increase in high frequency (HF) values was found for data from the cold water immersion (CWI) recovery which was accompanied by a significant decrease in low frequency (LF) values
Summary
Athletes often experience high levels of fatigue due to high training-loads, as well as frequent competitions (Hausswirth et al, 2011; Versey et al, 2013). For the purposes of this study, fatigue is defined as a feeling of exhaustion with a decline in physical performance (Montgomery et al, 2008). We wished to investigate the relationship between the corporeal (i.e., physiological data) and sensorial experiences (i.e., described from verbatim descriptions) of handball players during CWI following a training session. The sensorial data was evaluated using a method previously described by Andrieu and Gerardin (2012) called “emersiology” where “emersiology” was defined as “a reflexive science dealing with the emersion of sentient life from the consciously experienced body” where “emersion is the involuntary movement, within our bodies, of connections, humors and images of which only the tip reaches our awareness” (Andrieu and Gerardin, 2012; Andrieu and Burel, 2014)
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