This is a great new study, from a team at Victoria University in Australia led by PhD student James Broatch, that was published last month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. And I sincerely apologize that it took me a whole month to notice it, because it's a seriously awesome piece of work.

The study compares three different recovery protocols after an intense interval workout (4 x 30 seconds on a stationary bike), testing a whole bunch of different indicators of recovery during the 48 hours following the workout -- blood markers, leg swelling, psychological indicators, and of course leg strength. The three recovery options were:

(1) ice bath: 15 minutes in a bath of 10 C water;

(2) control: 15 minutes in a bath of 35 C (i.e. roughly body temperature) water;

(3) recovery oil: 15 minutes in a 35 C bath with a new "recovery oil" added.

So let's cut to the chase: here's maximal leg muscle strength at various timepoints after the exercise:

As expected, in the control condition (TWI) strength drops immediately after the workout and is still suppressed 48 hours later. In the ice bath (CWI) and recovery oil (TWP) conditions, the initial drop in strength is a bit less, and the subjects are back to full strength by about 24 hours later. If anything, the recovery oil seems a bit more effective than the ice baths, but there's no statistically significant difference between the two. The results look pretty much the same for mean (as opposed to peak) force during maximal force contraction, and for rate of force development. There's also a similar pattern in the subjective measures -- ratings of pain, vigor, and readiness to exercise are enhanced in the ice bath and recovery oil conditions compared to the control. In the blood tests and swelling measures, there are no differences between any of the recoveries.

Pretty cool stuff. So what is this new recovery oil? It's Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser -- and no, you should not run out and buy stocks in this company. It was used purely as a placebo. The subjects in the study were told that it was "as effective as ice baths for post-exercise recovery," in order to do a proper placebo-controlled test of the effectiveness of ice baths. And the results show that bath soap is just as effective at speeding up recovery as ice baths as long as you believe it is.

So does this finally put a nail in the coffin of ice baths? Well, there are a few caveats. The most important is the exercise protocol (a HIT workout), which was sufficient to induce prolonged fatigue and reduced strength, but didn't cause much actual muscle damage. Many ice bath studies used protocols with eccentric muscle contractions (one-legged squats, downhill running, etc.) to induce severe delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), involving significant damage to muscle fibers and subsequent swelling. This is a different kind of fatigue, and thus a different kind of recovery -- so it's possible that ice baths would outperform bath soap in an eccentric contraction protocol. Which is most relevant? Depends on what you're doing. As a runner, the fatigue I usually face after intense workouts or long runs is closer to the HIT protocol -- I'm tired and weak, but not DOMSed. On the other hand, after a marathon or a trail race with lots of downhills, DOMS is much more of a consideration. And athletes in contact sports use ice baths for a third reason: recovery from the direct bruising and battering they receive during the game. So there are still lots of unanswered questions.

Still, I can't deny that I love this kind of study. It's good science, and also good for a laugh. Now I'd better go soap up after my run...

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