The following are a list of peer-reviewed studies, meta-analyses, expert opinions and other sources used for PBI posts and emails.
At Pro Baseball Insider, we publish tips from MLB players, coaches, trainers and scouts… but there are some topics where experience is not the highest authority.
When touching on topics related to science, physiology, medicine or psychology, we always do our best to include the best information available.
With that said, please be sure to ALWAYS take your own personal concerns to an expert. The information found on this website is only meant to be a discussion of industry trends, NOT MEDICAL ADVICE!!!!!!!!!!
Sources for posts on recovery
1. Basic Recovery Aids: What’s the Evidence?
Current Sports Medicine Reports
May/June 2015 – Volume 14 – Issue 3 – p 227–234
Peterson, Andrew R. MD, MSPH1,2,3; Smoot, M. Kyle MD1,3,4; Erickson, Jacob L. MD1,3,4; Mathiasen, Ross E. MD1,3,4,5; Kregel, Kevin C. PhD6; Hall, Mederic MD1,3,7
2. Effect of Contrast Water Therapy Duration on Recovery of Running Performance
International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2012, 7, 130-140 © 2012 Human Kinetics, Inc.
Nathan G. Versey, Shona L. Halson, and Brian T. Dawson
Quote – “Contrast water therapy for 6 min assisted acute recovery from high-intensity running; however, CWT duration did not have a dose-response effect on recovery of running performance.”
3. Effectiveness of post-match recovery strategies in rugby players
British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2006
Authors – N D Gill, C M Beaven, & C Cook
Abstract
- Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of four interventions on the rate and magnitude of muscle damage recovery, as measured by creatine kinase (CK).
- Methods: 23 elite male rugby players were monitored transdermally before, immediately after, 36 hours after, and 84 hours after competitive rugby matches. Players were randomly assigned to complete one of four post-match strategies: contrast water therapy (CWT), compression garment (GAR), low intensity active exercise (ACT), and passive recovery (PAS).
- Results: Significant increases in CK activity in transdermal exudate were observed as a result of the rugby match (p<0.01). The magnitude of recovery in the PAS intervention was significantly worse than in the ACT, CWT, and GAR interventions at the 36 and 84 hour time points (p<0.05).
- Conclusions: An enhanced rate and magnitude of recovery was observed in the ACT, CWT, and GAR treatment groups when compared with the PAS group. Low impact exercise immediately post-competition, wearing compression garments, or carrying out contrast water therapy enhanced CK clearance more than passive recovery in young male athletes.
4. Compression garments and recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage: a meta-analysis
British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2014;48:1340-1346 doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092456
Authors – Jessica Hill, Glyn Howatson, Ken van Someren3, Jonathan Leeder, and Charles Pedlar,
Quote – “The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of compression garments on recovery following damaging exercise. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using studies that evaluated the efficacy of compression garments on measures of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), muscular strength, muscular power and creatine kinase (CK)…. Data were extracted from 12 studies, where variables were measured at baseline and at 24 or 48 or 72 h post exercise… These results indicate that compression garments are effective in enhancing recovery from muscle damage.”
5. Effect of incorporating low intensity exercise into the recovery period after a rugby match
British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2004
Authors – M Suzuki, T Umeda, S Nakaji, T Shimoyama1, T Mashiko, K Sugawara
6. Intensity of exercise recovery, blood lactate disappearance, and subsequent swimming performance
Journal of Sports Sciences, Volume 26, Issue 1, 2008
Authors – James D. Greenwood, G. Edward Moses, F. Mark Bernardino,Glenn A. Gaesser & Arthur Weltman
Quote – “We investigated the effects of passive and partially active recovery on lactate removal after exhausting cycle ergometer exercise in endurance and sprint athletes…We concluded that partially active recovery potentiates the enhanced ability to remove blood lactate induced by endurance training.”
7. Effects of Active and Passive Recovery Conditions on Blood Lactate, Rating of Perceived Exertion, and Performance During Resistance Exercise.
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, May 2000
Authors – CORDER, KEITH P.; POTTEIGER, JEFFREY A.; NAU, KAREN L.; FIGONI, STEPHEN E; HERSHBERGER, SCOTT L.
Quote – “Recovery was randomly assigned from the following: passive sitting; pedaling at 25% of onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) exercise intensity (25%-OBLA); and pedaling at 50% of OBLA exercise intensity (50%-OBLA)…Total repetitions to exhaustion for the MRP were: passive (24.1 +/- 1.8); 25%-OBLA (29.3 +/- 1.8); and 50%-OBLA (23.1 +/- 1.7), with 25%-OBLA being significantly greater than passive and 50%-OBLA. In this investigation, active recovery at 25%-OBLA proved to be the most effective means of reducing [La-] during recovery and increasing performance following a parallel squat workout.”
8. Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training
The Journal of Physiology, 2015
Authors – Llion A. Roberts,Truls Raastad, James F. Markworth, Vandre C. Figueiredo, Ingrid M. Egner, Anthony Shield, David Cameron-Smith, Jeff S. Coombes, Jonathan M. Peake
***A 12 week study***
Abstract / Quotes
- “Cold water immersion is a popular strategy to recover from exercise. However, whether regular cold water immersion influences muscle adaptations to strength training is not well understood.”
- “We compared the effects of cold water immersion and active recovery on changes in muscle mass and strength after 12 weeks of strength training. We also examined the effects of these two treatments on hypertrophy signalling pathways and satellite cell activity in skeletal muscle after acute strength exercise.”
- “Cold water immersion attenuated long term gains in muscle mass and strength. It also blunted the activation of key proteins and satellite cells in skeletal muscle up to 2 days after strength exercise.”
- “Individuals who use strength training to improve athletic performance, recover from injury or maintain their health should therefore reconsider whether to use cold water immersion as an adjuvant to their training.”
IMPORTANT NOTE: I believe the conclusion is flawed. The research shows only that Active Recovery alone is better than Cold therapy alone. Because of the study design, it would be wrong to assume that Cold therapy is worse than Passive Recovery based on these results. Also, it’s impossible to know from this study if Active Recovery + Cold Therapy (used together in a thoughtful way) wouldn’t be better (or worse) than Active Recovery used alone.
9. Cold water immersion and recovery from strenuous exercise: a meta-analysisBritish Journal of Sports Medicine 2012 46 (4)
Leeder et al. 46 (4): 233
Quotes:
- “For the purpose of this review, exercise will be subdivided into two categories: ‘eccentric exercise’ that refers to the stress caused from exercise incorporating high mechanical stress (eg, eccentric contractions) and ‘high-intensity exercise’ that refers to stress caused from exercise with a high metabolic cost as well as some elements of eccentric muscle contractions (eg, repeat sprint sports).”
- “CWI was highly effective in alleviating DOMS following high-intensity exercise at 24 and 48 hr… CWI did not reduce DOMS at 24 h post eccentric exercise but had a moderate effect at 48 h post eccentric exercise.”
- “The efficacy of CWI has not been clearly established despite the large volume of research, therefore this systematic review of literature has provided insight into the potential benefits conferred by such interventions that allow practitioners to make an informed decision on their efficacy and application. The main findings of this study were as follows: (1) CWI alleviated symptoms of DOMS at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post exercise and was effective at 24 and 48 h following high intensity exercise. (2) CWI had a small but significant effect in reducing efflux of CK post exercise. (3) CWI had no effect on recovery of muscle strength but was effective in improving recovery of muscle power.”
- “The only positive effect of improving recovery of muscle function was in tests of muscle power. The effect of CWI acting specifically to recovery of muscle power and not muscle strength is an interesting finding with no obvious explanation, so the following proposed mechanisms are speculative.
10. Arm Pain in Young Baseball Players is Common, Preventable
Major survey by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers, was published online by American Journal of Sports Medicine. Study was led by Christopher S. Ahmad, MD, chief of sports medicine and professor of orthopedic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia and head team physician for the New York Yankees.
11. The Ice Bath Debate – Evidence mounts that post-workout ice baths may interfere with training gains.
12. Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training. Roberts, L. A., Raastad, T., Markworth, J. F., Figueiredo, V. C., Egner, I. M., Shield, A., Cameron-Smith, D., Coombes, J. S. and Peake, J. M. (2015). J Physiol, 593: 4285–4301. doi:10.1113/JP270570
Summary: A significant 2015 study just published the most comprehensive look yet at the link between ice baths and training adaptations in the Journal of Physiology—Half of the subjects took a 10-minute ice bath at 10 degrees Celsius (50 F) after each workout, while the other half did 10 minutes of easy stationary biking. In pretty much every measure, the ice bath group did worse. (Source 11; Note: It’s possible these findings should not be generalized to endurance training).
13. Do Ice Baths Help or Hurt Your Training?
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014, 11:11 AM
Discusses findings from a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Quote: “You can see that the ice bath group is ahead right from the end of the first week, climbs at roughly the same rate, and then seems to pull ahead further in the taper. Several (but not all) of the performance measures show similar patterns, with a “likely beneficial” edge of a few percent for the ice bath group. The overall conclusion is that the effects of ice bath on performance were “unclear” — but one thing they definitely didn’t find was any evidence of the cyclists in the ice bath group not improving as much as the control group.”
15. Why ice delays recovery
Quote: “When I wrote my best-selling Sportsmedicine Book in 1978, I coined the term RICE (Rest, Ice,Compression, Elevation) for the treatment of athletic injuries (Little Brown and Co., page 94). Ice has been a standard treatment for injuries and sore muscles because it helps to relieve pain caused by injured tissue. Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping.In a recent study, athletes were told to exercise so intensely that they developed severe muscle damage that caused extensive muscle soreness. Although cooling delayed swelling, it did not hasten recovery from this muscle damage (The American Journal of Sports Medicine, June 2013). A summary of 22 scientific articles found almost no evidence that ice and compression hastened healing over the use of compression alone, although ice plus exercise may marginally help to heal ankle sprains (The American Journal of Sports Medicine, January, 2004;32(1):251-261).”
