Dissociated Time Course Response of Muscle Damage Recovery After Whole-body Cryotherapy and Cold-water Immersion

Abstract

A relatively novel recovery modality is whole-body cryotherapy (WBC), which refers to brief exposure (2 to 3 min) to extremely cold air (−110 to −195 °C) in a temperature-controlled chamber or cryocabin. In sports medicine, WBC and cold-water immersion (CWI) have been used recently as an approach to accelerate recovery from muscle damage. However, comparisons between WBC and CWI on the time course of strength recovery and delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) are still controversial. PURPOSE: To compare the effects of two different recovery modalities (WBC vs. CWI) performed immediately after a muscle damaging protocol on recovery. METHODS: Twenty six untrained men (21 ± 3 years, 174.1 ± 5.5 cm, 72.0 ± 10.6 kg) completed five sets of 20 drop jumps with 2 min rest between sets. After EIMD, participants were randomly assigned to two groups: 1) 3 min of WBC at −110 °C (n=13); or 2) 20 min of CWI at 5 °C (n=13). Isometric knee extensor torque (KT) and DOMS were measured at baseline, immediately, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post exercise. RESULTS: There was a significant interaction between recovery modalities and time on KT. The CWI group did not recover KT after 96 h. However, the WBC group recovered KT 96 h after EIMD (Table 1). Furthermore, the WBC group recovered from DOMS at 72 h, while the CWI group recovered 96 h after EIMD (Table 1). There was no difference in KT and DOMS between groups pre EIMD (p>0.05).Table: No title available.CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that WBC and CWI applied immediately after an EIMD protocol present dissimilar time course responses in strength and DOMS recovery. For WBC, strength and DOMS recovered at three and four days respectively. However, for CWI, strength was still depressed at four days, and pain was still present at three days, following EIMD. Thus, it appears that WBC enhances recovery from muscle damage more quickly than CWI.