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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 52 studies: cold water improved soreness after hard exercise, not strength

Moore and colleagues · Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022

Original title: Impact of Cold-Water Immersion Compared with Passive Recovery Following a Single Bout of Strenuous Exercise on Athletic Performance in Physically Active Participants: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis and Meta-regression.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

After high-intensity exercise, cold water improved muscle soreness (SMD - 0.89) and felt recovery (SMD 0.66) at 24 h. Power also improved. No effect on strength. Shorter time and colder water linked to bigger effects on creatine kinase.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
52 studies · active people and athletes after one hard exercise bout
What was tested
Cold water immersion compared with rest after hard exercise
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Who has a stake
No stake declared
One author has a Norwood Football Club grant to study cold water; the club had no role here.
Journal
Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2022
Source
PubMed record 35157264. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 52 studies.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •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

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ 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

  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

Other reviews on this question

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 3 fields 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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