Whole body cryotherapy, cold water immersion, or a placebo following resistance exercise: a case of mind over matter?

Wilson, Laura J.; Dimitriou, Lygeri; Hills, Frank; Gondek, Marcela B.; Cockburn, Emma

doi:10.1007/s00421-018-4008-7

Cited by 39 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…Although participants in the present study were not informed of the study hypothesis and a control intervention was used for comparison, we did not examine the potential influence of the placebo effect on the observed responses. Accumulating evidence indicates that therapeutic effects of popular recovery modalities, such as cryotherapy, stem at least partially from a placebo effect (53,54). These important observations emphasize the need for future studies on the effects of HT to implement an effective placebo-controlled design.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of heat therapy on recovery after eccentric exercise in humans

Kim

Kuang

Song

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Physiology

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of heat therapy (HT) on functional recovery, the skeletal muscle expression of angiogenic factors, macrophage content, and capillarization after eccentric exercise in humans. Eleven untrained individuals (23.8 ± 0.6 yr) performed 300 bilateral maximal eccentric contractions of the knee extensors. One randomly selected thigh was treated with five daily 90-min sessions of HT, whereas the opposite thigh received a thermoneutral intervention. Peak isokinetic torque of the knee extensors was assessed at baseline and daily for 4 days and fatigue resistance was assessed at baseline and 1 and 4 days after the eccentric exercise session. Muscle biopsies were obtained 2 wk before and 1 and 5 days after the eccentric exercise bout. There were no differences between thighs in the overall recovery profile of peak torque. However, the thigh exposed to HT had greater fatigue resistance than the thigh exposed to the thermoneutral intervention. The change from baseline in mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was higher at day 1 in the thigh exposed to HT. Protein levels of VEGF and angiopoietin 1 were also significantly higher in the thigh treated with HT. The number of capillaries around type II fibers decreased similarly in both thighs at day 5. Exposure to HT had no impact on macrophage content. These results suggest that HT accelerates the recovery of fatigue resistance after eccentric exercise and promotes the expression of angiogenic factors in human skeletal muscle. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We investigated whether exposure to local heat therapy (HT) accelerates recovery after a bout of eccentric exercise in humans. Compared with a thermoneutral control intervention, HT improved fatigue resistance of the knee extensors and enhanced the expression of the angiogenic mediators vascular endothelial growth factor and angiopoietin 1. These results suggest that HT hastens functional recovery and enhances the expression of regulatory factors involved in muscle repair after eccentric exercise in humans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of heat therapy on recovery after eccentric exercise in humans

Kim

Kuang

Song

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Physiology

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“…CWI, primarily as a result of its ability to decrease tissue temperature and blood flow (Gregson et al 2011;Costello et al 2012;Gregson et al 2013;Mawhinney et al 2013;Mawhinney et al 2017a;Mawhinney et al 2017b), has been suggested to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (Leeder et al 2012;Roberts et al 2014;Hohenauer et al 2015) and muscle oedema/swelling (Yanagisawa et al 2003;Yanagisawa et al 2004;Vaile et al 2008;Roberts et al 2014), improve recovery of muscle function/performance (Vaile et al 2008;Vaile et al 2011;Versey et al 2013;Roberts et al 2014) and increase gene expression of molecular markers of endurance exercise adaptation (Ihsan et al 2014;Joo et al 2016;Allan et al 2017). However, it is important to note that not all studies show beneficial effects of CWI on markers of postexercise recovery (Paddon-Jones & Quigley, 1997;Goodall & Howatson, 2008;Versey et al 2013;Wilson et al 2019). A recent meta-analysis reported that the proposed beneficial effects of CWI on postexercise recovery seem to be based more upon subjective rather than objective (blood) markers (Hohenauer et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postexercise cooling impairs muscle protein synthesis rates in recreational athletes

Fuchs

Kouw

Churchward‐Venne

et al. 2019

The Journal of Physiology

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Key points Protein ingestion and cooling are strategies employed by athletes to improve postexercise recovery and, as such, to facilitate muscle conditioning. However, whether cooling affects postprandial protein handling and subsequent muscle protein synthesis rates during recovery from exercise has not been assessed. We investigated the effect of postexercise cooling on the incorporation of dietary protein‐derived amino acids into muscle protein and acute postprandial (hourly) as well as prolonged (daily) myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during recovery from resistance‐type exercise over 2 weeks. Cold‐water immersion during recovery from resistance‐type exercise lowers the capacity of the muscle to take up and/or direct dietary protein‐derived amino acids towards de novo myofibrillar protein accretion. In addition, cold‐water immersion during recovery from resistance‐type exercise lowers myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during prolonged resistance‐type exercise training. Individuals aiming to improve skeletal muscle conditioning should reconsider applying cooling as a part of their postexercise recovery strategy. Abstract We measured the impact of postexercise cooling on acute postprandial (hourly) as well as prolonged (daily) myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during adaptation to resistance‐type exercise over 2 weeks. Twelve healthy males (aged 21 ± 2 years) performed a single resistance‐type exercise session followed by water immersion of both legs for 20 min. One leg was immersed in cold water (8°C: CWI), whereas the other leg was immersed in thermoneutral water (30°C: CON). After water immersion, a beverage was ingested containing 20 g of intrinsically (l‐[1‐13C]‐phenylalanine and l‐[1‐13C]‐leucine) labelled milk protein with 45 g of carbohydrates. In addition, primed continuous l‐[ring‐2H5]‐phenylalanine and l‐[1‐13C]‐leucine infusions were applied, with frequent collection of blood and muscle samples to assess myofibrillar protein synthesis rates in vivo over a 5 h recovery period. In addition, deuterated water (2H2O) was applied with the collection of saliva, blood and muscle biopsies over 2 weeks to assess the effects of postexercise cooling with protein intake on myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during more prolonged resistance‐type exercise training (thereby reflecting short‐term training adaptation). Incorporation of dietary protein‐derived l‐[1‐13C]‐phenylalanine into myofibrillar protein was significantly lower in CWI compared to CON (0.016 ± 0.006 vs. 0.021 ± 0.007 MPE; P = 0.016). Postexercise myofibrillar protein synthesis rates were lower in CWI compared to CON based upon l‐[1‐13C]‐leucine (0.058 ± 0.011 vs. 0.072 ± 0.017% h−1, respectively; P = 0.024) and l‐[ring‐2H5]‐phenylalanine (0.042 ± 0.009 vs. 0.053 ± 0.013% h−1, respectively; P = 0.025). Daily myofibrillar protein synthesis rates assessed over 2 weeks were significantly lower in CWI compared to CON (1.48 ± 0.17 vs. 1.67 ± 0.36% day−1, respectively; P = 0.042). Cold‐water immersion during recovery from resistance‐type e...

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“…The physiological benefits of WBC in athletes have been attributed to cold-induced analgesia, reduction of muscle temperature, and suppression of inflammation-derived RONS and cytokines. Studies into the effects of a cold therapy on exercise performance and recovery have reported diverse outcomes ranging from beneficial [11][12][13] through negligible [14][15][16][17] to negative ones [18,19]. Roberts et al [19] indicated that post-exercise cold water immersion could even attenuate acute anabolic signaling and long-term adaptation of muscular system to exercise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple Cryotherapy Attenuates Oxi-Inflammatory Response Following Skeletal Muscle Injury

Zembroń-Łacny

Morawin

Wawrzyniak-Gramacka

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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The oxi-inflammatory response is part of the natural process mobilizing leukocytes and satellite cells that contribute to clearance and regeneration of damaged muscle tissue. In sports medicine, a number of post-injury recovery strategies, such as whole-body cryotherapy (WBC), are used to improve skeletal muscle regeneration often without scientific evidence of their benefits. The study was designed to assess the impact of WBC on circulating mediators of skeletal muscle regeneration. Twenty elite athletes were randomized to WBC group (3-min exposure to −120 °C, twice a day for 7 days) and control group. Blood samples were collected before the first WBC session and 1 day after the last cryotherapy exposure. WBC did not affect the indirect markers of muscle damage but significantly reduced the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (H2O2 and NO) as well as the concentrations of serum interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and C-reactive protein (CRP). The changes in circulating growth factors, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGFBB), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), were also reduced by WBC exposure. The study demonstrated that WBC attenuates the cascade of injury–repair–regeneration of skeletal muscles whereby it may delay skeletal muscle regeneration.

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Whole body cryotherapy, cold water immersion, or a placebo following resistance exercise: a case of mind over matter?

Cited by 39 publications

References 50 publications

Impact of heat therapy on recovery after eccentric exercise in humans

Impact of heat therapy on recovery after eccentric exercise in humans

Postexercise cooling impairs muscle protein synthesis rates in recreational athletes

Multiple Cryotherapy Attenuates Oxi-Inflammatory Response Following Skeletal Muscle Injury

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