Leave a Message
brand logo

BROCK CARDON, MD, FAAFP, AND TANNER PULSIPHER, DO

Am Fam Physician. 2025;111(4):366

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

CLINICAL QUESTION

Does cold water immersion after exercise reduce muscle soreness?

EVIDENCE-BASED ANSWER

Cold water immersion immediately after exercise can improve perceived recovery and delay onset of muscle soreness in the 24 hours after high-intensity and resistance exercise. (Strength of Recommendation [SOR]: A, systematic review and meta-analysis.) Short immersion times (ie, less than 10 to 15 minutes) at temperatures below 59°F (15°C) have the most consistent benefits. (SOR: A, systematic review and meta-analysis.)

EVIDENCE SUMMARY

A 2022 systematic review with meta-analysis of 52 peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials (RCTs; N = 1,191) investigated the differences in perceived recovery, muscle soreness, and exercise performance between use of cold water immersion and passive recovery.1 Patients were older than 18 years and exercised regularly. The RCTs included various cold water immersion protocols within 15 minutes after strenuous exercise. Twenty studies (n = 619) assessed recovery after eccentric exercise, whereas the remaining 32 (n = 572) assessed recovery from high-intensity exercise. Passive recovery was used as the comparator intervention in all studies.

Already a member/subscriber?  Log In

Subscribe

From $165
  • Immediate, unlimited access to all AFP content
  • More than 130 CME credits/year
  • AAFP app access
  • Print delivery available
Subscribe

Issue Access

$59.95
  • Immediate, unlimited access to this issue's content
  • CME credits
  • AAFP app access
  • Print delivery available
Purchase Access:  Learn More

Help Desk Answers provides answers to questions submitted by practicing family physicians to the Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN). Members of the network select questions based on their relevance to family medicine. Answers are drawn from an approved set of evidence-based resources and undergo peer review. The strength of recommendations and the level of evidence for individual studies are rated using criteria developed by the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group (https://www.cebm.net).

The complete database of evidence-based questions and answers is copyrighted by FPIN. If interested in submitting questions or writing answers for this series, go to https://www.fpin.org or email: questions@fpin.org.

This series is coordinated by John E. Delzell Jr., MD, MSPH, associate medical editor.

A collection of FPIN’s Help Desk Answers published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/hda.

Continue Reading

More in AFP

More in PubMed

Copyright © 2025 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP.  See permissions for copyright questions and/or permission requests.

Copyright © 2025 American Academy of Family Physicians. All Rights Reserved.