Fatigue and Recovery in Rugby: A Review

Abstract

The physical demands and combative nature of rugby lead to notable levels of muscle damage. In professional rugby, athletes only have a limited timeframe to recover following training sessions and competition. Through the implementation of recovery strategies, sport scientists, practitioners and coaches have sought to reduce the effect of fatigue and allow athletes to recover faster. Although some studies demonstrate that recovery strategies are extensively used by rugby athletes, the research remains equivocal concerning the efficacy of recovery strategies in rugby. Moreover, given the role of inflammation arising from muscle damage in the mediation of protein synthesis mechanisms, some considerations have been raised on the long-term effect of using certain recovery modalities that diminish inflammation. While some studies aimed to understand the effects of recovery modalities during the acute recovery phase (<48 h post-match), others investigated the effect of recovery modalities during a more prolonged timeframe (i.e. during a training week). Regarding the acute effectiveness of different recovery modalities, cold water immersion and contrast baths seem to provide a beneficial effect on creatine kinase clearance, neuromuscular performance and delayed onset of muscle soreness. There is support in the literature concerning the effect of compression garments on enhancing recovery from delayed onset of muscle soreness; however, conflicting findings were observed for the restoration of neuromuscular function with the use of this strategy. Using a short-duration active recovery protocol seems to yield little benefit to recovery from rugby training or competition. Given that cold modalities may potentially affect muscle size adaptations from training, their inclusion should be treated with caution and perhaps restricted to certain periods where athlete readiness is more important than increases in muscle size.

Effects of Chronic Cold-Water Immersion in Elite Rugby Players

“…At the elite level, rugby training often occurs two or more times daily over two or more consecutive days during a week. 1,2 An imbalance between training stress and recovery can lead to an excessive level of accumulated fatigue over the training week 1 and undesirable chronic fatigue over a training phase. 3 Increased fatigue over time can lead to the athlete being unable to train at a required intensity or being unable to perform the desired training load.…”

“…4 In order to reduce the harmful effect of fatigue and allow athletes to recover faster, athletes regularly implement different recovery modalities in their routines. 1,2,5 Previous literature has identified cold-water modalities as one of the most common recovery strategies implemented by elite rugby athletes. 1,2 The exposure to cold water decreases skin, core and muscle temperature, 6 leading to vasoconstriction, and consequently, it may decrease swelling and acute inflammation from muscle damage.…”

“…1,2,5 Previous literature has identified cold-water modalities as one of the most common recovery strategies implemented by elite rugby athletes. 1,2 The exposure to cold water decreases skin, core and muscle temperature, 6 leading to vasoconstriction, and consequently, it may decrease swelling and acute inflammation from muscle damage. 7 Furthermore, the use of cold water immersion (CWI) contributes to a reduction in nerve conduction properties and to a decrease in muscle spasm and pain.…”

Changes in performance markers and wellbeing in elite senior professional rugby union players during a pre-season period: Analysis of the differences across training phases

“…Appropriate training loads that result in optimal adaptation, yet maintain players in a positive state of readiness (that determines their ability to effectively achieve their performance potential), are therefore key and require continuous monitoring. 13 The monitoring of specific performance measures to assess NMF in rugby union is a relatively recent area of research, 14 with tests typically involving objective NMF assessment 9,12 and subjective self-reported assessment of fatigue. 8 A combination of lower-and upper body NMF and some multi-dimensional measure of athlete WB is therefore routinely incorporated in most rugby union clubs.…”

Effect of Cold-Water Immersion on Elbow Flexors Muscle Thickness After Resistance Training

“…In sports medicine, many postexercise recovery techniques have been investigated to find methods to reduce the secondary symptoms of the magnitude of damage caused by exercise and to accelerate the recovery process to help regular individuals and athletes to maintain the required workload during subsequent training sessions while reducing the risk of injury (34). Cryotherapy is one of the strategies, which is widely implemented to enhance recovery in athletes (e.g., Rugby ref) or individual's recreational training (31).…”