Cold water immersion and recovery from strenuous exercise: a meta-analysis
Early meta-analysis (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2012) synthesising randomised trials of cold-water immersion after strenuous exercise versus passive or active comparators—commonly cited for recovery and muscle soreness themes; read next to updated DOMS / CK network meta-analyses on this wiki.
Role in this database
Indexes an early (2012) meta-analysis of cold-water immersion (CWI) after strenuous exercise—useful historical context, but effect sizes and trial corpora have since been updated by larger DOMS / CK / jump-performance syntheses (e.g. Bleakley, Wang network meta-analyses linked on cold-plunge).
Methods (high level)
- Design: meta-analysis of randomised exercise-recovery trials using CWI
- Comparators: typically passive recovery and sometimes active recovery arms depending on included trials (read primary paper tables)
Interpretation
Pair with immersion-first DOMS meta-analyses rather than shower workplace trials on cold-exposure—modality and timing differ.
Publication
Leeder J, Gissane C, van Someren K, Gregson W, Howatson G. Br J Sports Med. 2012 Mar;46(4):233-40. PMID 21947816.
Outcomes
- Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness at 24 hoursMeta-analysis of randomised trials: cold-water immersion after strenuous exercise associated with pooled recovery and muscle soreness signals versus passive recovery (read primary paper for forest-plot SMDs; superseded in part by 2023–2025 DOMS syntheses linked on cold-plunge).