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Randomized trial · measured other health measures

4-week trial in 20 young men: cold water did not clearly change recovery

Farkhari Babak and colleagues · La Tunisie medicale · 2021

Original title: Experience of cold-water immersion on recovery efficiency after soccer match.

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What the study found

No difference

Cold water had no effect on blood AST and LDH, or on power output and sprint decline (P> 0.05).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
20 people · 20 young men new to cold water, doing a simulated soccer test
What was tested
15 minutes in 15°C water after exercise, repeated over 4 weeks, vs passive recovery
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
How long
4 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
La Tunisie medicale, 2021
Source
PubMed record 33899195. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • –Small: 20 people. Small trials can miss real effects or find chance ones.
  • –Short: 4 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: muscle recovery and mood

    8

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 5 no difference, 1 harm

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    8

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference, 1 harm

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    3

    1 benefit, 2 no difference

  4. Population studies

    3

    2 benefit, 1 mixed

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does cold plunging help recovery and mood?”

Eases soreness a little; mood unproven.

Confidence: low. Based on 30 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 7 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 1 mixed, 3 no difference, 1 harm. This one found no difference.

Other papers on the same step

See all 30 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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