Delayed onset muscle soreness commonly results after sports and exercise activity.

 

 Cold-water immersion (CWI), which involves people immersing themselves in water at temperatures of less than 15°C, is sometimes used to manage muscle soreness after exercise and to speed up recovery time. Our review included 17 small trials, involving a total of 366 participants. Study quality was low. There was some evidence that cold-water immersion reduces muscle soreness at 24, 48, 72 and even at 96 hours after exercise compared with ’passive’ treatment. Limited evidence from four trials indicated that participants considered that cold-water immersion improved recovery/reduced fatigue immediately afterwards. Conclusion: While the evidence shows that cold-water immersion reduces delayed onset muscle soreness after exercise, the optimum method of cold-water immersion and its safety are not clear. Download this free full text Cochrane review athttp://bit.ly/JK6A8z > from Bleakly et al.; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2 (2012) Art. No.: CD008262. All rights reserved to The Cochrane Collaboration. Courtesy of Marc Schmitz (A&P)