Ice Baths - What Are The Benefits

When I used to compete a lot in judo I was at a competition and my last fight of the day was for the bronze medal I'd had about four or five other fights that day then a little break and my fight for the bronze was against a black belt from Minorca it was a tough fight and went to golden score and finally to a judges decision all in all the fight was pretty flat out for 8 minuets of actual fight time the clock being stopped when we were.

Anyway after the fight when I staggered off the mat the doctors, who were there to watch as the comp was part of the Island games, said that I could have done with an ice bath, at the time I wondered what that would have done.

Ice baths work by causing the blood vessels in the muscles to contract forcing blood filled with lactic acid away from the muscles allowing new blood to fill the muscles it also will reduce any swelling and similar things that arise from . 

According to research by the university of ulster this Cryotherapy is useful in reducing muscle soreness by up to 20% for four days after some intense exercise the test subjects stayed in the baths from 5 minuets up to 25 minuets.

However its not necessarily the best method for reducing soreness for one its not exactly comfortable, despite what this happy fellow looks like, the effect of prolonged use of ice baths are also unknown.  Also most studies that have been carried out were carried out on elite level athletes so the benefits may not apply to the same extent with the general population.