Team sport athletes\u2019 perceptions and use of recovery strategies: a mixed-methods survey study

Fiona Crowther,Andrew Edwards,Rebecca Sealey,Shona Halson,Melissa Crowe

doi:10.1186/s13102-017-0071-3

Abstract

BackgroundA variety of recovery strategies are used by athletes, although there is currently no research that investigates perceptions and usage of recovery by different competition levels of team sport athletes.MethodsThe recovery techniques used by team sport athletes of different competition levels was investigated by survey. Specifically this study investigated if, when, why and how the following recovery strategies were used: active land-based recovery (ALB), active water-based recovery (AWB), stretching (STR), cold water immersion (CWI) and contrast water therapy (CWT).ResultsThree hundred and thirty-one athletes were surveyed. Fifty-seven percent were found to utilise one or more recovery strategies. Stretching was rated the most effective recovery strategy (4.4/5) with ALB considered the least effective by its users (3.6/5). The water immersion strategies were considered effective/ineffective mainly due to psychological reasons; in contrast STR and ALB were considered to be effective/ineffective mainly due to physical reasons.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that athletes may not be aware of the specific effects that a recovery strategy has upon their physical recovery and thus athlete and coach recovery education is encouraged. This study also provides new information on the prevalence of different recovery strategies and contextual information that may be useful to inform best practice among coaches and athletes.

Highlights

A variety of recovery strategies are used by athletes, there is currently no research that investigates perceptions and usage of recovery by different competition levels of team sport athletes
Further research is required to confirm the effectiveness of STR, active recovery, cold water immersion (CWI) and contrast water therapy (CWT) due to conflicting results reported across randomised controlled trials [6,7,8] and systematic reviews [1, 9,10,11]
Fifty-seven percent of the team sport athletes surveyed performed a recovery after competition and/or training, regardless of competition level, this indicates that most athletes acknowledge that recovery is an integral part of performance and training [16] and supports the hypothesis that most athletes perform a recovery

Summary

Introduction

A variety of recovery strategies are used by athletes, there is currently no research that investigates perceptions and usage of recovery by different competition levels of team sport athletes. There are many post-exercise recovery options currently available for athletes Some of these include water immersion, stretching (STR), walking and/or jogging, swimming or pool walking, massage, sleeping/napping and fluid/food replacement [1,2,3]. It is generally accepted that many athletes undertake post-exercise recovery, to the authors’ knowledge there is currently no research available to describe which recovery strategies are used by Australian-based athletes across a range of team sports and competition levels. It is unclear why athletes partake in recovery strategies and if they believe they are effective or ineffective. Further research is required to confirm the effectiveness of STR, active recovery, cold water immersion (CWI) and contrast water therapy (CWT) due to conflicting results reported across randomised controlled trials [6,7,8] and systematic reviews [1, 9,10,11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion