Cold and Warm Water for Performance Recovery
September 25, 2025 updated by: Ron Clijsen, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Repeated Cold- and Warm Water Immersion on Performance Recovery
The overall aim of this study is, to evaluate the effectiveness of repeated cold- and warm water immersion on performance recovery after muscle damage.
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Participants perform a muscle-damage protocol, which comprises 5x20 drop jumps. After the exercise protocol is finished, the participants will undergo one of three recovery interventions. Cold-water immersion, Warm-water immersion or the control-intervention. During the exercise protocol and the recovery intervention following parameters will be assessed: Blood oxygenation, Muscle oxygenation, heart-rate, skin temperature and core temperature.
Then, performance recovery will be assessed during the following 72 hrs (in a 24 hrs interval).
At each time-point, following measurements will be conducted: vertical-jump performance, maximum voluntary isometric contraction of the m.quadriceps femoris muscle, muscle swelling and delayed-onset of muscle soreness.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
30
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Locations
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Kanton Graubünden
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Landquart, Kanton Graubünden, Switzerland, 7302
- University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
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-
Participation Criteria
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
18 years to 35 years (Adult)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Healthy participants
- No surgeries
- No previous injuries
- Anticonceptiva allowed
Exclusion Criteria:
- Acute injuries or current pain situations
- Cryophobia
- Fear
- Pregnancy
- Raynaud syndrome
- Medication intake
Study Plan
This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Basic Science
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: Repeated cold-water immersion
In this arm, the participants undergo repeated cold water immersion at 10°C for 2 x 5 min.
Between the immersion, a break will be conducted 2.5 min.
Participants will be immersed up to the iliac crest
|
This information can be found the description of the experimental arm.
|
|
Active Comparator: Repeated warm-water immersion
In this arm, the participants undergo repeated warm water immersion at 40°C for 2 x 5 min.
Between the immersion, a break will be conducted 2.5 min.
Participants will be immersed up to the iliac crestParticipants will be immersed up to the iliac crest.
|
This information can be found the description of the experimental arm.
|
|
Other: Control
In this arm, the participants undergo the control intervention which comprises to remain seated for 12.5 min.
The participants, that will perform the muscle damaging protocol under hypoxia will also be treated with the control condition.
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This information can be found the description of the experimental arm.
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Creatine-kinase (U/l)
Time Frame: baseline to 72 hours
|
using a blood sample (6 ml), creatine-kinase will be assessed
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baseline to 72 hours
|
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Maximum Voluntary Isometric Contraction (N)
Time Frame: baseline to 72 hours
|
maximun voluntary isometric contraction of the knee extensor muscle will be assessed.
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baseline to 72 hours
|
|
Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
Time Frame: baseline to 72 hours
|
delayed onset of muscle soreness will be measured using a 0-10 scale, where 0 indicated no soreness and 10 indicates maximum soreness of the knee extensor muscles
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baseline to 72 hours
|
|
Muscle Swelling
Time Frame: baseline to 72 hours
|
swelling of the knee extensor muscle will be performed using a ultrasound device.
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baseline to 72 hours
|
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Muscle Blood Oxygenation
Time Frame: through recovery intervention up to 30 minutes
|
Muscle oxygenation saturation (SmO2) of the knee extensor muscle will be measured using near-infrared spectroscopy device.
Oxygenated haemoglobin (oxyHb), deoxygenated haemoglobin (deoxyHb) and total haemoglobin (TotHb) were assessed in arbitrary units and SmO2 was calculated as oxyHb/TotHb x 100 value (%)
|
through recovery intervention up to 30 minutes
|
|
Skin Temperature (°C)
Time Frame: through recovery intervention up to 30 minutes
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Skin temperature will be measured using a near infrared thermography camera
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through recovery intervention up to 30 minutes
|
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Core Temperature (°C)
Time Frame: through recovery intervention up to 30 minutes
|
core temperature will be measured using temperature pill that will provide real time values from the gastrointestinal region
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through recovery intervention up to 30 minutes
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Ron Clijsen, PhD, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
Publications and helpful links
The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.
General Publications
- Hohenauer E, Bianchi G, Wellauer V, Taube W, Clijsen R. Acute physiological responses and muscle recovery in females: a randomised controlled trial of muscle damaging exercise in hypoxia. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2024 Mar 22;16(1):70. doi: 10.1186/s13102-024-00861-1.
- Wellauer V, Clijsen R, Bianchi G, Riggi E, Hohenauer E. No acceleration of recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage after cold or hot water immersion in women: A randomised controlled trial. PLoS One. 2025 May 7;20(5):e0322416. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322416. eCollection 2025.
Helpful Links
Study record dates
These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
October 1, 2021
Primary Completion (Actual)
April 30, 2022
Study Completion (Actual)
May 1, 2022
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
April 29, 2021
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
May 25, 2021
First Posted (Actual)
May 26, 2021
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Estimated)
October 7, 2025
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
September 25, 2025
Last Verified
September 1, 2025
More Information
Terms related to this study
Other Study ID Numbers
- 2021-00546
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
NO
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
No
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