Does dunking in cold water help sore muscles?
Effects of cold-water immersion at different body regions on post-exercise muscle damage recovery: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Putting your body in cold water after exercise can help you feel less sore and lower a marker of muscle damage, but it doesn’t make your muscles stronger right away and can hurt jumping power right after.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 557 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Putting your body in cold water after exercise can help you feel less sore and lower a marker of muscle damage, but it doesn’t make your muscles stronger right away and can hurt jumping power right after.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 557 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Publication
Authors
Zhu Y, Yang L, Liu T, Yao F, Wang Q, Yi Z
Related Content
Claims (6)
You don’t need to dunk your whole body in cold water after a workout—just cooling the sore muscles works just as well for recovery.
Taking a cold-water bath after exercise probably helps reduce muscle soreness, especially in the first day, and the effect seems real even when accounting for biased studies.
Taking cold baths or cold showers after working out might slightly lower a marker of muscle damage in healthy people, but the benefit could be smaller than studies suggest because of biased reporting.
Taking a cold-water plunge after exercise might make your jumping power worse right afterward, especially if only part of your body is in the water — but soaking your whole body doesn’t seem to have much of an effect.
Taking cold baths or cold plunges after exercise might make you *feel* better, but it doesn’t actually help your muscles get stronger faster in the first 72 hours.