This section is about using the right cold water immersion protocol regarding duration, temperature and frequency. Water temperature is responsible for creating the thermal gradient between the athlete's body and the water. This thermal gradient is the gradient between the skin core and muscle temperature of the immerse athlete in the temperature of the water. The thermal gradient for instance, is greater directly following a high intensity exercise in the heat while emerging cold water compared to an athlete addressed while immersed in hot water. poppendieck and colleagues summarize the available literature concerning elite athletes and cold water immersion and recalculate the main effects for the total group looking particularly into the impact of water temperature. In the figure presented the x axis shows the water temperature in degrees Celsius and the y axis the effect size with the more significant effect size implying a stronger effect of the cold water immersion as can be seen milder water temperatures between 50 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit are associated with larger effect sizes, which means that for this group of athletes, these temperatures result in a more significant effect and better recovery effect.
The figure also show black diamonds and white squares. These refer to a difference in the emerging position. Either whole body emerging or partial body emerged. Optimal recovery effects are reported with milder cold water emergent temperatures. This is in line with a review from verse he and his colleagues who stated the temperatures lower than 46 degrees Fahrenheit and counter active effects. With the positive effects caused by the hand the static pressure, cold water induces more vasoconstriction which reduces heart rate and this cardiac output.
This response causes the body to minimize peripheral blood flow and preserve its core temperature. And as a result, central metabolism is increased to maintain this core temperature Increase central metabolism enhances the production of waste products and erodes energy stores, both of which are considered harmful and unwanted effects after exercise. As a result, it is suggested that emerging in milder temperatures is the best option for recovery unless muscle strains or springs have occurred, in which case emerging into colder temperatures may be more beneficial. For cold water immersion. It is recommended to use a water temperature between 47 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit, while keeping in mind that colder temperatures might produce counteracted effects and less cold water temperatures do not provide sufficient thermal gradients. And lower water temperature induces a more significant initial cold shock, increasing thermal discomfort and possibly limiting exposure to cold water emerging both in duration and frequency to improve compliance or in case these temperatures are not achievable due to the limits technology available.
Similar thermal responses can be reached using longer emerging times at warmer temperatures, or by increasing the emerging depth. Next to water temperature. The length of emergent determines the amount of heat that is extracted as well. The longer one is emerged, the more heat will be removed. Not much research attention is put in the assessment of the isolated effect of emerging duration. The individual effect of emerging duration in cold water emerging becomes evident in a study by Pfeiffer and colleagues.
They assessed core and muscle temperature following a 510 and 15 minutes emergent in 57 degrees Fahrenheit water. As expected, both gore and muscle temperature were lower in correspondence with longer emergent times. Even 30 minutes post emergence the differences were still present. The thermal responses however, did not result in a significant difference in time to exhaustion or the total amount of work performed in Time to exhaustion trial following the emergence based on the limited research available for cold water emergent, emergent duration between five and 20 minutes is recommended, where the thermal response, discomfort and rate of shivering should determine the maximum exposure time. What a temperature and duration of emergent interact, and the combination is often referred to as the dose. The numbers of studies on Coldwater immersion increased significantly over the last decade, though results remain hard to compare.
One of the reasons for this is that the use protocols are different. Duration of emergence should be explored in conjunction with water temperature as cold temperatures will create higher thermal stress and therefore cause tissue temperature to decrease at a faster rate. It is yet unknown when a water temperature or emerging duration is the most significant impact or which combination has the best optimal effect on the thermal response. The suggested dose factor Provided by frozen fruit and colleagues offers a combination between water temperature and emerging duration. By defining a cold water immersion protocol intensity fee in this formula, the dose can be calculated by the product of emergent duration multiplied by the inverse of the water temperature. For instance, a 10 minutes emerging protocol at 59 degrees Fahrenheit as a dose of point six seven protocols are five minutes 46 degrees Fahrenheit have a dose of point six three, while a protocol of 10 minutes at 46 degrees Fahrenheit has a dose of 1.25.
This dose vector makes it easier to compare the different protocols used and the results that are found. different studies try to identify a dose response relationship between the different those of Coldwater immersion and its response to a study of a minor and colleagues assess the effect of different dosages of cold water immersion on heart rate variability post exercise recovery They concluded that heart rate variability was enhanced using a high dose of cold water emerging of 1.07. My shadow and colleagues performed a systematic review to determine the efficacy of cold water emerging on the management of muscle soreness compared with control interventions. Analysis indicated that cold water emerging with the water temperature of 52 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and an emerging duration between 11 and 15 minutes provide the best results. A shadow and colleagues in another study recently performed a randomized clinical trial on the effects of two cold water emerging protocols and one passive recovery protocol on functional and clinical responses.
Although both water immersion protocols were favorable over the best recovery protocol, no wonder emerging protocol, implying no dose response relationship was identified for any of the outcomes defined on the line and colleagues recently also performed a randomized control trial, while using different water immersion protocols. Although there were some differences between groups at different time points, no consistent findings were identified implying a dose response relationship between these variables. To summarize longer between 211 to 15 minutes and milder, between 52 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit protocols are most useful for restoring cardiac modulation and muscle soreness. Certainly muscle damage, creatine kinase and lactate, no dose response relationship is found. timing of emergent is defined as when it would be best to undergo What are emerging to reach the most optimal effects. And the emergent frequency is the number of repetitions within a particular timeframe.
Brophy and Williams examine the timing of cold water emergent. They emerged eight mill athletes directly or three hours after a high intensity exercise. On next day performance and found that the immediate cold water emerging condition resulted in superior neck day performance compared to the control group. While the delayed cold water emerging condition was still likely to be beneficial as well. A study from Castile Jani and colleagues examined how the time of the day affects the response following cold water emergent. Based on their results, the time of the day does not have to be considered when prescribing cold water emerging.
The objective of emergence also has a significant impact on the timing. For instance, to reduce core temperature Stevens and colleagues shoulder to shoulder water emerging protocols two times five minutes with 10 minutes of recovery in between seems to be more effective than one continuous cold water emerging protocol 10 minutes at least commencing water emerging with high body temperature at the beginning of emergent will possess a higher thermal gradient and therefore more substantial thermal changes are to be expected It is definitely recommended to immerse the athlete as close as possible after the end of the activity. Enhancing acute recovery defined as the recovery on the same day between activities is of great importance for athletes, as athletes often perform multiple training sessions per day. for acute recovery consistent data recommends not to use cold water emerging 60 minutes before power related activities. different studies show no benefit or even impair performance following cold water emerging in acute recovery settings.
The muscle temperature and dynamic contract of fourths of the muscles are likely to be reduced due to the cooling and every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit reduction in muscle temperature results in about four to 6% reduction in contract of force having a significant effect on sports performance. Next to cooling of the muscle. The exposure to water emerging enhances parasympathetic tivity directly, thereby putting the body in recovery mode rewarming the muscle and activating the sim particles necessary for optimal performance requires the integration of an intense warmup again, for endurance activities in the heat that do not need peak power from the start, this is less applicable. These type of activities might benefit from pre cooling. The reduced core temperature at the start creates a thermal buffer before a critical thermal strength state is reached, creating the possibility to maintain pace longer, or result in better time trial times. Due to the delay in core temperature decrease after the emergency, it is still recommended to finish emergent 30 minutes before the start of the second exercise.
With multiple days being available, the emergent frequency becomes an item. different studies focused on repeatedly emerging athletes to enhance chronic recovery CODEL and whole Watson examined the effects of multiple cold water emerging on the indices of muscle damage after a massive eccentric exercise, and found no beneficial effect compared to a control group with no emerging. Stanley and colleagues investigated performance and heart rate variability over consecutive days of cycling with everyday post exercise cold water emergent or passive recovery for three days. Cold water immersion allowed athletes to perform better over successive days of competition. vil and colleagues examined the effects of three hydrotherapy interventions and one control group condition on the late onset muscle soreness. Cold water and compress water were effective in reducing don't symptoms and hot water emerging protocol was useful in the recovery of isometric force, but not effective for all Marcus Rosell and colleagues conducted study in high performance Junior soccer players.
Although the perception of fatigue and muscle soreness This was lower in the cold water emerging group. No difference was found in indicators of soccer performance. This is in contrast to the findings of Hagen's and colleagues. They evaluated the benefits of two forms of water immersion, cold water immersion and contrast water immersion in rugby players, both groups of water emerging illustrated two to 6% performance gain in the second game compared to control. She Clara and colleagues aim to investigate the effects of not cold water emerging on muscle function markers of muscle damage systemic inflammation, and concluded that multiple cold water emergent attenuated muscle damage but not altered systemic inflammation and muscle function. For recovery purposes.
It is recommended to investigate the acute and chronic effects and periodization of recovery in sports practice, when to undertake and not to undertake What are emerging should be carefully designed. Proper recovery period ization Consider the frequency and intensity of training sessions and match play and should support the natural recovery processes. When in case sufficient time is available, interference with water emergent and other recovery modalities should be limited within this periodization. The objective should be acknowledged and can be divided in accordance with the virus and colleagues in recovery from damage recovery to adapt and recover to perform within the recovery from damage face. The objective is to alter and minimize the physiological damage following activity. In the recover to adapt face.
The objective is to consider the process of natural adaptation. The process of the body get accustomed to a particular exercise or training program through repeated exposure. In the recovery to perform phase. The ultimate goal is to get the athlete ready to compete. In general in the recovery from damage face, the most intense protocols and frequent protocols are prescribed. In the recovery to a depth face, the intensity and frequency of water immersion is the lowest more research in repeated exposure to cold water immersion is needed.
But in general, it can be recommended that to maximize cooling effects after three to four days, cold water immersion should be applied immediately after exercise as muscle temperature may be a key factor. The emergence should also be repeated each day and considerations should be given to the type of prior activity, the recovery window and the restriction that emergence should be limited to a maximum of two times per 24 hours. Acknowledge a proper periodization when to use and when not to use water emergent accepting the three phases recover from damage recover to adapt and recover to perform as water temperature is highly integrated in sports practice in becomes readily available, and even transportable options now exist as the limited available literature. This topic illustrates that the sooner after activity an athlete undergoes water immersion the better. These portable options are probably of benefit in sports practice. This concludes the section about the specifics of the water immersion protocol concerning water temperature, emerging duration, and frequency of use.
It seems to be a challenge to determine the right dose to benefit from one or emerging optimally. One of the reasons is that different factors affect the response which accordingly will be the topic of the next section, we will focus on the effects of the recovery objective and individual factors like body composition, age, gender, and ethnicity.