In conclusion, cold and heat therapies are both effective for enhancing muscle recovery and reducing muscle damage with heat being superior immediately after exercise and cold at 24 hours after exercise. Cold is superior for pain relief immediately after exercise and at 24 hours.
For reducing pain, control subjects showed a significant amount of pain the days after exercise. But cold immediately after exercise or 24 hours later was superior to heat in reducing pain. In conclusion, both cold and heat appear to be efficacious in reducing muscle damage after exercise.
The answer is as soon as possible – especially if you have another physical event soon after the effort you are recovering from.
Using Ice After Exercise
Ice treatments should remain the final step after exercise. If an athlete is stiff from an injury immediately following exercise, it is best to go with ice to ease pain and swelling. However, it is best to apply heat in the hours following injury to increase blood flow.
Taking an ice bath after you workout can reduce muscle inflammation, flush out lactic acid, and help your muscles to start the healing process after strength training. Research shows this isn't better than a traditional cool-down, but it's a complementary way for your muscles to recover.
If you drink chilled water, there is a temperature mismatch that takes a toll on your digestive health. Your body also finds it difficult to absorb cold water after a workout. Drinking chilled water right after a workout may lead to chronic stomach pain as extremely cold water shocks your body.
Maybe think twice about ice
"Icing is more about comfort than treating inflammation," Frenkiewich says. Some research shows that icing an injured area can hinder healing. A long period of applying cold to the skin—intended to numb the area and reduce inflammation—can curtail blood flow and potentially harm soft tissue.
Although the evidence is mixed, many studies suggest that cold, especially cold-water immersion, is better than heat for exercise recovery. Many experts, including the American College of Sports Medicine, recommend cold instead of heat therapy to aid muscle recovery.
Spritzing your face during and after your workout will reduce the redness and work to restore the skin to a balanced state after physical activity. Another way to chill out your reactive skin: ice roll, which helps constrict blood vessels to soothe your spicy skin.
A hot shower can provide relief by relaxing your muscle fibers and relieving tension. The warmth helps to loosen any tightness, allowing your muscles to recover and return to their optimal state. As the hot water cascades over your body, it penetrates deep into your muscles, melting away any lingering tension.
After exercise or activity (and in between activities), use ice to prevent inflammation" (Houston Methodist, 2023). For long runs, ice therapy is generally the preferred method immediately after.
Using a cold compress or ice pack on a strained muscle can decrease inflammation and numb pain in the area. Icing is effective at reducing pain and swelling because the cold constricts blood vessels and decreases circulation to the area.
Try an ice pack on your sore muscles or soaking them in a cold bath. Heat therapy. For older injuries or general tension and stiffness, heat therapy can help by relaxing your muscles and encouraging blood flow. Try a heat wrap or a warm bath.
Cooling down after a workout is as important as warming up. After physical activity, your heart is still beating faster than normal, your body temperature is higher and your blood vessels are widened. This means if you stop too fast, you could feel sick or pass out.
And so leaving sweat on your skin for an extended period of time, which can lead to a build-up of dead skin cells, can also contribute to acne. By simply showering after your workout, you can help to keep your skin clean and prevent this from occurring.
Taking cold showers every day for 30 days may lead to increased energy levels and alertness as well as improved overall health. Your skin and hair may feel and look better due to the reduced drying and irritating effects of a hot shower. However, remember, individual responses to cold therapy vary.
Soft tissue structures such as ligaments, tendons, and cartilage don't get a lot of blood supply to begin with, so reducing blood flow with R.I.C.E. will prolong the healing process. For example, not having a completely healed ligament will increase the likelihood of having chronic instability of a joint.
Never treat with ice for more than 30 minutes, and remove the pack immediately if the injury appears bright pink or red. Don't use ice packs on the left shoulder if you have a heart condition, and don't use ice packs around the front or side of the neck.
Cold therapy has been used regularly as an immediate treatment to induce analgesia following acute soft-tissue injuries, however, a prolonged ice application has proved to delay the start of the healing and lengthen the recovery process.
"Working out when sore is okay as long as it isn't affecting your movement to the point where it's causing you to compensate and do something in a way that's unsafe," says Dr. Hedt. "Muscle soreness can be a deterrent to exercising, but it's temporary and the more you exercise, the less you should feel it.
Conclusion: As you can see, the pecs are easily the muscle group that should be trained with the least frequency. This theory is supported by the finding that the pecs are the slowest muscle group to recover following training (11).
do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week. spread exercise evenly over 4 to 5 days a week, or every day.