Cold-water immersion reduces soreness after hard exercise but shows mixed results versus other recovery methods

Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 28 studies comparing cold-water immersion to other common post-exercise recovery strategies in physically active people. Cold-water immersion outperformed most comparators for muscle soreness relief but showed no clear advantage over other methods for recovering muscular power or flexibility, and air cryotherapy outperformed it on strength and immediate power recovery.

What the study found

The review pooled evidence from 28 peer-reviewed studies, all involving physically active participants who had completed an acute bout of strenuous exercise. Cold-water immersion was compared against a range of alternatives including active recovery, contrast water therapy, warm-water immersion, and air cryotherapy.

For muscle soreness, cold-water immersion was consistently superior to the other modalities examined. For muscular power and flexibility, however, it performed similarly to competing methods — neither clearly better nor worse across those outcomes.

When broken out by specific comparator, cold-water immersion showed advantages over active recovery, contrast water therapy, and warm-water immersion across most recovery outcomes. The exception was air cryotherapy, which was associated with meaningfully greater recovery of muscular strength and with faster recovery of muscular power in the first hour after exercise.

A meta-regression exploring whether water temperature or immersion duration explained differences in outcomes found that neither variable was a consistent moderator of effect — suggesting that variation in those parameters across studies did not reliably account for differences in results.

Limits worth knowing

The analysis drew on 28 studies, but the underlying trials differed substantially in exercise protocols, participant fitness levels, outcome measurement timing, and the specific recovery modalities used as comparators, which limits the precision of pooled estimates. The review was restricted to English-language, peer-reviewed publications searched through September 2022, so more recent work is not captured. Participants were broadly described as physically active, meaning findings may not translate equally to elite athletes or sedentary individuals. Funding sources for the included primary studies were not uniformly reported, and the review itself does not disclose industry support. Longer-term effects of repeated cold-water immersion use were not addressed.

About this entry. The Heartwood Review summarizes published, peer-reviewed research in its own words and links to the original source. It is not medical advice; consult a physician before beginning or changing any thermal or recovery practice. Findings summarized here describe the study cited, not any product sold by Teak & Marble Atelier. Corrections.