The effect of active recovery, cold water immersion and passive recovery on subsequent knee extension and flexion strength

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Recovery is an important aspect of every physical activity. Many athletes train hard without giving their body time to recover which can lead to overreaching, burnout or poor performance. Currently cold-water immersion recovery and active recovery have emerged as some of the most popular interventions enabling faster recovery.OBJECTIVE: To assess the eff ect of three kinds of recovery (active recovery, cold water immersion, passive recovery) on medium-term knee strength in the extension and fl exion.METHODS: Fourteen athletes at the age of 26.6 ± 4.4 years performed, in a random cross-over design, 3 sessions with 3 repeated medium-term isokinetic tests. The eff ect of active recovery, passive rest and cold water immersion were assessed by 3 × 3 (time × recovery) repeated-measure ANOVA, respectively. The dependent variables were -peak torque, total work and average power.RESULTS: We found signifi cantly lower absolute diff erences between the fi rst and third trial in knee extension for peak torque after the active recovery (↑ 0.9 N × m) than after the cold water immersion (↓ 14.6 N × m) or the passive recovery (↓ 13.9 N × m). The decrease of the average power was signifi cantly lower diff erences after the active recovery (↓ 5 W) than after the cold water immersion (↓ 23.7 W) or passive recovery (↓ 25.9 W). The changes in total work were not signifi cant. We did not found any changes in the isokinetic strength for the knee fl exors after diff erent kinds of recovery. Maximal heart rate (HR max ) was signifi cantly higher during the active recovery than during the cold water immersion and the passive recovery (173 ± 14, 166 ± 14 and 167 ± 14 rpm). We have found signifi cant diff erences in the average heart rates (HR avg ) during active recovery, cold water immersion and passive recovery (124 ± 8, 97 ± 9 and 107 ± 12 rpm).CONCLUSION: We found the positive eff ect of the active recovery on the subsequent medium-term performance for knee extension. That was the only method which showed lower decrease of knee strength in extension in comparison with passive recovery and cold water immersion. We have found the signifi cant diff erences of heart rate which was recovery dependent.

Mechanobiology-based physical therapy and rehabilitation after orthobiologic interventions: a narrative review

“…CWI in ice water was more effective at decreasing levels of inflammation and inducing healing in comparison to non-immersed seated cold compressions for up to 72-hours post-treatment [37,38]. Other findings have not confirmed the positive impact of CWI on isokinetic strength for the treated joint, yet results have shown the effect of CWI on decreasing heart rate during recovery [39]. Although the mechanism in which CWI encourages recovery remains ambiguous, Yang et al examined the role of cold water in improving recovery from traumatic sciatic nerve injuries in vivo.…”