Ice Baths! Do they help ?

Chelmsford Physio • September 28, 2022

Ice baths after exercise have been popular with athletes for some years now, from Mo Farah to Andy Murray to whole rugby teams. More recently Wim Hof ‘The Ice Man’ has been increasing his popularity and working with celebrities on TV. I listen to patients talking about Joe Wicks and the ice bath he has in his garden. So what are the benefits and how does it work?




How does an Ice Bath help ?

Cold Water Immersion (CWI) is commonly used as a procedure to relieve pain symptoms, particularly in inflammatory diseases, injuries and overuse symptoms. In sports medicine, CWI has gained wider acceptance as a method to improve recovery and reduce the delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS)


CWI can be classified by immersion in water <15 °C, and has been suggested to have an effect on reducing some biological markers of muscle damage and inflammation. However, despite the large volume of research performed in this area, the effectiveness of its use is not clearly established.


In some studies CWI resulted in significantly greater improvements in muscle soreness, reporting a significant effect in favour of CWI at four time points (24, 48, 72 and 96 hours).




When comparing whole body immersion (WBI ) and partial body immersion (PBI) modalities for perceived soreness, athletic performance, and muscle damage in healthy individuals and athletes. Both modalities induced similar effects on muscle performance, soreness and damage, without any significant difference between them being reported in the literature. Considering these findings, we are not able to conclude that the hydrostatic pressure physiological mechanism considered in the WBI application can induce any significant differences. Therefore, one could choose WBI or PBI and expect similar treatment effects.


Cold application, in the case of immersion, seems to modify hydrostatic pressure and decrease the ability of sensory transmission and thus reduce acetylcholine release, influencing the pain threshold. Similar effects were observed on perceived soreness in both WBI and PBI strategies, suggesting that the approach chosen should consider compliance and logistics?


In some studies CWI had a stronger effect on muscle soreness (DOMS) after running based exercises, and was less effective when used after resistance exercises Muscle soreness commonly results after sports and exercise activity. A priority for physiotherapists and athletes is to encourage full recovery between exercise bouts using an effective intervention programme. A large Cochrane review provides some evidence that cold‐water immersion reduces delayed onset muscle soreness after exercise when compared with passive interventions involving rest or no intervention. 


CWI does not appear to be harmful and does not induce general or specific negative effects in athletes.


So if you are planning on taking the plunge, it is recommended to immerse yourself in a temperature of around 15 degrees for between 5-10 minutes to start with. If you are not so keen on this, it is suggested that cold water baths in a temperature around 24 degrees are as good and perhaps better, than ice baths? Don’t forget that a nice active recovery may be as good as cold water immersion for your recovery post exercise.


References


Klaus Porto Azevedo, 1  Júlia Aguillar Ivo Bastos , 1 Ivo Vieira de Sousa Neto, 2 Carlos

Marcelo Pastre, 3 and Joao Luiz Quagliotti Durigan 1,* Different Cryotherapy Modalities

Demonstrate Similar Effects on Muscle Performance, Soreness, and Damage in Healthy

Individuals and Athletes: A Systematic Review with Metanalysis

J Clin Med. 2022 Aug; 11(15): 4441.


Chris Bleakley 1 , Suzanne McDonough, Evie Gardner, G David Baxter, J Ty

Hopkins, Gareth W Davison

Cold Water immersion for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Feb 15;2012(2):CD008262.


Banfi G., Lombardi G., Colombini A., Melegati G. Whole-body cryotherapy in athletes. Sports

Med. Auckl. N. Z. 2010;40:509–517.

Leeder J., Gissane C., van Someren K., Gregson W., Howatson G. Cold water immersion and

recovery from strenuous exercise: A meta-analysis. Br. J. Sports Med. 2012;46:233–240.New Paragraph

How Athletes Adapt Their Training to Cope with High Temperatures: The Science of Heat Acclimatisation

By Chelmsford Physio • July 29, 2026
Athletes competing in hot and humid environments face significant physiological challenges that can impair performance and increase the risk of heat-related illness. From marathon runners in tropical climates to footballers playing summer tournaments, the ability to tolerate and perform in high temperatures is a critical component of elite sport. As a result, many athletes use structured heat acclimatisation strategies to prepare their bodies for environmental stress.  What Is Heat Acclimatisation? Heat acclimatisation refers to a series of physiological adaptations that occur when an athlete is repeatedly exposed to hot conditions during training. These adaptations typically develop over 7–14 days and help the body improve its ability to regulate temperature, maintain performance, and reduce cardiovascular strain during exercise in the heat. Common methods include: ● Training in hot environments (natural or artificial heat chambers) ● Passive heat exposure (saunas or hot water immersion post-training) ● Adjusting clothing to increase thermal load during sessions ● Gradual exposure to increased environmental temperatures The goal is to safely stress the thermoregulatory system so the body becomes more efficient at dissipating heat.

Why Footballers & Athletes Use Ice Baths: The Science Behind Cold Water Immersion

By Chelmsford Physio • July 29, 2026
Ice baths, also known as cold water immersion (CWI), have become a common recovery strategy among elite athletes, particularly footballers. From Premier League changing rooms to Olympic training camps, many professionals immerse themselves in cold water after intense matches and training sessions. While the sight of players sitting in freezing water may seem extreme, there is growing scientific evidence explaining why this recovery method is so widely used. What Is an Ice Bath? An ice bath typically involves immersing the body (or lower limbs) in water between 10–15°C for 10–15 minutes shortly after exercise. The aim is to promote recovery by reducing muscle soreness, inflammation and fatigue, allowing athletes to perform consistently during periods of heavy training or competition. Why Do Footballers Use Ice Baths? Football is a physically demanding sport involving repeated sprinting, jumping, tackling, rapid changes of direction and high-impact collisions. These actions create microscopic muscle damage and trigger an inflammatory response. Cold water immersion is commonly used because it may help: ● Reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) ● Minimise post-exercise swelling ● Decrease perceptions of fatigue ● Improve recovery between matches ● Maintain performance during congested fixture schedules For professional footballers playing two or three matches per week, rapid recovery is often as important as training itself. 

The Physio’s World Cup Playbook: Most Common Injuries at FIFA World Cup 2026 (and What to Do About Them)

By Chelmsford Physio • July 29, 2026
The FIFA World Cup is a unique tournament environment: elite athletes compressed into a short, high-stakes schedule, with repeated sprinting, sudden acceleration/deceleration, frequent collisions, and often limited time for full tissue recovery. It’s not surprising that the injury pattern in football tends to cluster around the lower limb—particularly the hamstrings, groin/hip-adductors, knee, and ankle. Across football research more broadly, these are repeatedly identified as the most common locations and/or injury mechanisms, even if the exact percentages differ by competition and injury-reporting method. Below is a physio-focused overview of the most common injury “types/regions” you should expect to see at World Cup 2026, along with practical assessment and management themes. 1) Muscle strains—especially hamstrings (HSI)  Why they happen in tournaments: Hamstring strain injuries (HSIs) are strongly associated with high-speed running and the physical demands of sprinting mechanics. In injury surveillance and football epidemiology, hamstring injuries consistently appear among the most common soft-tissue problems, with meaningful recurrence risk. What a physio will look for: - History: onset during acceleration/sprinting, feeling of “pull,” bruising (sometimes). - CNS/tissue considerations: prior injury, training load spikes, inadequate sprint exposure progression. - Clinical exam: focal tenderness, resisted muscle testing, and functional tests aligned to your local protocols (e.g., pain-free activation and lengthening tolerance). Rehabilitation themes: - Restore capacity for high-speed eccentric/concentric demands (not just range of motion). - Use progressive loading and functional return-to-play criteria to address reinjury risk—because football research highlights that the hamstring is one of the most frequently reinjured regions.