I once read, (and wasn't able to find, I think it might have been the secret footballer series in the Age) that a footballer's greatest fear (apart from injury) was that it would be revealed that ice baths were unnecessary, and in fact had been a great waste of time. Something I read with amusement and no little agreement. My surprise at this article in the NYT was strong, I had accepted it as fact that cold water immersion was a key part of recovery from heavy training. Will be interesting to see if this filters through into any footy clubs training regimes. Or at least interesting to folks like me who follow training trends closely. Any of the @Webber types got any thoughts?    

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/well/move/exercise-icing-sore-muscles.html

For those nerds like me interested in background (and needing to procrastinate) - I added some links, I had thought AIS research on the subject was 1st class and behind the success of our track cyclists.

https://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2010/07/sport-and-science-winning-athletes-gold

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23743793/

The Vaile article is in my mind the most interesting of the three - the NYT one is behind a paywall but the headline suggests it relates to icing specific acutely injured muscles, which appears to be standard practice.

Not much is said about the timing post exercise which is probably an important factor.  Repetition and alternation seems the go.

Certainly refutes what I heard Dermie saying on radio regarding the next morning half hour dip in cold Hobson's Bay "to wash out all that lactic acid"!!  If it was still present the next day the poor bugger would be well and truly dead.

Regardless of the substance of this thread the title is some Rupert Murdoch level click bait confusion. All it needs is a random picture of a football player with a red circle pointing out something completely unrelated - that makes you click on it none the less.

If you’re confused saunter on over to news.com.au and you’ll see what I mean.

Guilty of Clickbait Confusion, compared to a Hun journalist... the shame of it.

5 hours ago, monoccular said:

The Vaile article is in my mind the most interesting of the three - the NYT one is behind a paywall but the headline suggests it relates to icing specific acutely injured muscles, which appears to be standard practice.

Not much is said about the timing post exercise which is probably an important factor.  Repetition and alternation seems the go.

Certainly refutes what I heard Dermie saying on radio regarding the next morning half hour dip in cold Hobson's Bay "to wash out all that lactic acid"!!  If it was still present the next day the poor bugger would be well and truly dead.

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.01069.2020

 

Was the player who secretly wrote for the Age ever identified. 
Could write. 
 

Might go the way of the pre-game stretch routine.

Long been shown that a proper warm up and mild working through of different parts of the body is the way to go, not the specific 'stretch-out' processes that used to be so standard. Stretching as a targeted activity is supposed to be done as a 'lifestyle' every day to continuously build and maintain the baseline of flexibility.

Looks like something similar with the cold-water and ice bath therapies. A good way to stimulate blood flow and over time develop a better circulation at the fine capillaries, but not as a direct response to specific damage.

Maybe the reason stretching and cold water treatment is still emphasized in these 'targeted' spaces is because otherwise we'd all have to admit we just can't be buggered doing a 30 minute stretch session every morning followed by a cold shower. Like some kind of 'Anna McNulty meets Wim Hof' nightmare.

3 hours ago, radar said:

Was the player who secretly wrote for the Age ever identified. 
Could write. 
 

I don't think so, was dying of curiosity myself.