Optimising recovery in high-performance athletes through cold-water immersion

This thesis is based on a series of five original studies that have investigated the efficacy of using contrast showers (CS) and cold-water immersion (CWI) for enhancing recovery from intensive physical training or match play in a range of high performance athletes. Although CS and CWI are widely used by high-performance athletes, little scientific investigation has been conducted to determine whether these practices are effective for enhancing recovery and improving subsequent training or competition performance. Thus, the overall aim of this thesis was to determine the effectiveness of CS and CWI recovery strategies using 'real-life' training and competition scenarios with high ecological validity to high-performance athletes.

High-performance athletes from a range of sports were studied during periods of intensive physical training or during simulated competition. Contrast showers and CWI strategies were implemented as close as possible to the end of the respective training and competition bouts and designed to replicate 'normal' practice of high performance athletes. Contrast showers involved alternating hot and cold-water exposures, and CWI, alternating bouts of cold-water immersion and seated rest. Statistical analysis was performed using repeated measures analysis of variance and magnitude based inferences (Batterham & Hopkins, 2006).

A major finding from this series of studies was that a 5-min CS protocol that is recommended for use by high performance athletes does not appear to offer any ergogenic benefit for improving recovery from intensive training. Furthermore, CWI appears to offer a greater benefit for improving and maintaining performance during periods of intensive training than thermoneutral immersion (TNI). The present series of studies also suggest that CWI may reduce the perception of soreness and increase the perception of recovery in high-performance athletes from a range of sports.

In conclusion, the results of the current series of studies suggest that, in preference to CS, high-performance sporting teams consider using other recovery methods that have more empirical support. Furthermore, it is recommended that, when undertaking intensive training twice a day, athletes may benefit from performing CWI between training sessions. Moreover, it is recommended that team sport athletes do not use CS and that CWI is required for effective recovery both post-match and between successive matches in a tournament. Finally, CWI should be used in preference to TNI.