Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Chris Joyce says ice baths may be overhyped

An ice bath may seem like a good idea before Monday’s Boston Marathon, but will it deliver any meaningful effects for future performance? Or recovery? Not really, says MGH Institute of Health Professions Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, Chris Joyce, PT, DPT, PhD.

“It's much like other things in sports and performance - they tend to be a lot of hype and not necessarily deliver the results when they're held up to scrutiny and tested empirically,” noted Joyce. “Probably the biggest knock is the lack of translatable findings to whether ice baths actually help performance or recovery in ways that are meaningful for the activities a person wants to recover from, or perform in.” 

Joyce, Director of Research for the Rick Hoyt Research Lab, says research suggests cold plunges can harm strength training efforts and points to a systematic review of 10 studies which found using an ice bath immediately after resistance training actually decreased strength gains from the exercise sessions. 

“The studies look at the effect of ice baths on metabolic markers that you typically want to have after exercising, because these markers and enzymes are what catalyze the gains and benefits from exercise,” explains Joyce. “And what they find is that ice baths can dampen the anabolic effects of exercise, so that makes you question, ‘Should you jump in an ice bath after exercising?’”

On the flip side, Joyce says there isn’t a lot of evidence indicating ice baths will hurt performance nor is there much evidence that they improve performance either. 

“If you're looking for an answer of whether or not an ice bath can decrease or improve the performance in any margin that would be meaningful to the person’s performance on a desired activity, the evidence doesn’t point one way or the other.”

Ice baths are a form of cryotherapy, which can also involve the entire whole-body in nitrogen-cooled air where temperatures can reach 200 degrees below zero. 

Joyce says the recovery side of ice baths is a bit easier to validate for runners and athletes alike. “There is some evidence that ice baths do, however, positively impact perceived muscle soreness and exertion”.

“If an ice bath feels better for athletes and improves their sense of recovery, that can be meaningful,” noted Joyce. “However, what's most meaningful is how much that translates to performance on whatever it is they want to recover for. And that's where the evidence breakdown exists. But if it feels good, there's value in that, right? If something, that may be of negligible harm, gives you psychological well-being, what's wrong with that?”

In the end, the ice bath myth may be fueled by more perception than reality. 

“It’s not going to give you better gains or effects than a proper meal, lots of water, and a good night's sleep,” concluded Joyce. “I think that’s the world of sports performance. People will believe things that other performers do and endorse, regardless of the evidence, or even well-before there has been proper scientific scrutiny.”