Abstract
The final hours of preparation before competition are important for performance. Recovery, preparation and warm up protocols are evolving continuously and include passive and active modalities often developed by “trial and error” approaches. Passive modalities, such as whole-body cryotherapy (WBC), have the potential to enhance both recovery and preparation. Whole-body cryotherapy has generally been used within a recovery setting after competition or strenuous training for athletes, and in clinical settings for the general population. However, the acute hormonal, anti-inflammatory, perceptual and psychological responses yielded by a single, or repeated, bouts of WBC indicate that this practice could enhance an athlete’s competition readiness when used alongside traditional elements of active warm-ups in the hours before competition in addition to aiding recovery in the hours after. Here we summarize and evaluate the acute effects of WBC exposures on physiological, performance and perceptual responses, and examine the likelihood these responses could theoretically translate into enhanced athletic performance. The potential to enhance an athlete’s performance using acute passive WBC exposure is a novel intervention that requires further investigation.
Highlights
In high-performance sport, coaches and sports scientists strive to identify novel interventions to enhance performance
The likely effects of whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) use prior to exercise, and the underlining mechanisms, need clarification to inform the use by athletes before competition. The purpose of this perspective is to explore the acute effects of WBC exposure on physiological factors, post-activation potentiation and exercise performance
If further research can identify a relationship between WBC exposure and Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), this could explain any marked reduction in muscular fatigue and enhancement of muscle priming effects
Summary
In high-performance sport, coaches and sports scientists strive to identify novel interventions to enhance performance. The purpose of this perspective is to explore the acute effects of WBC exposure on physiological factors, post-activation potentiation and exercise performance This information should clarify whether pre-game WBC could enable athletes to be in a greater state of readiness for competition. The influence that hormones such as testosterone, cortisol and blood catecholamines have on an individual’s athletic capacity need to be investigated more thoroughly It appears that WBC exposure could elicit a PAP response when utilized prior to exercise or competition. Over a 7-day period of WBC exposures twice per day, 25 elite rugby players exhibited a 43% decrease in salivary cortisol concentration, but associated with a 47% increase in salivary testosterone (Grasso et al, 2014) Despite these outcomes further work is required to identify which interventions can enhance the T:C ratio under a variety of situations across different sports. If further research can identify a relationship between WBC exposure and sAA (and blood catecholamine release), this could explain any marked reduction in muscular fatigue and enhancement of muscle priming effects
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