Optimizing Recovery: Cold Plunges, Painkillers, and Massage Guns

This chapter delves into various recovery methods such as cold plunge therapy, the use of painkillers, and the effectiveness of massage guns for athletes. It discusses the mixed evidence on the benefits of these modalities and explores the potential risks associated with relying on them for recovery. The conversation also touches on stretching, yoga, and active recovery methods to promote overall recovery and performance.

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Based on feedback from you guys we are kicking of a "101" series. Don't worry, we'll continue to have the episodes with guests where we deep dive interest topics, but many listeners have asked for some episodes where we focus on the fundamentals.

We're starting with recovery because there have been so many questions about different recovery modalities. This episode will cover active recovery, sauna, cold plunge, foam rolling, stretching, compression, massage guns, and painkillers (plus a few others that we touch on more briefly). We'll go over when and how some of these might be appropriate, but we'll also address some of the misinformation that has made some of them more popular than they probably deserve to be.

We do mention a lot of research in this conversation, so in roughly the order they were mentioned here are links to those studies:

https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijspp/15/7/article-p934.xml?content=abstract&utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=International_Journal_of_Sports_Physiology_and_Performance_TrendMD_0 (swimmers significantly worse the day after sauna)

https://www.termedia.pl/A-post-exercise-infrared-sauna-session-improves-recovery-of-neuromuscular-performance-and-muscle-soreness-after-resistance-exercise-training,78,47765,0,1.html (for power/muscular performance, recovery was actually improved by sauna, or at least not worsened)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965229919301943 (sauna can have an acute positive effect on HRV)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41371-017-0008-z (sauna may have beneficial effects on blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and other cardiovascular risk factors)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejsc.12074 (2024 meta analysis showing CWI post-exercise reduces hypertrophy, but the authors caution that the overall quality of the evidence isn’t particularly strong.)

If you're still reading at this point, I'm impressed. Anyway, I ran out of characters to keep doing the summaries. If you want a list that includes the topics, email me at alex@mopsnmoes.com - otherwise they generally follow the order of the discussion.

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2017/05000/effects_of_cold_water_immersion_and_contrast_water.32.aspx/1000

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-020-01362-0?fbclid=IwAR1hXbM9l5PfFAgrDCOdEompuANV86qPosdgunFfisQfvNUVn58oS6AglC8

https://pharmacia.pensoft.net/article/54581/download/pdf/

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/fulltext/2021/07000/Passive_Recovery_Strategies_after_Exercise__A.5.aspx

https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/8/3/138

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.677581/full?fbclid=IwAR2k3FE6ZUwkrPc6clrbBBgbUkMjQuia1_Re81qUNh4u-XMA2AaAyHzJcN4%2F%3Famp%3D1

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2020/11000/foam_rolling_prescription__a_clinical_commentary.35.aspx?context=featuredarticles

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S136085921930395X

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00376/full?fbclid=IwAR3B80g6xRxA9kHwhrge0xKy4HsJJs7SAt8UFLj5vQqrJbBMPMyvfptCvo0

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-022-01699-8

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-003-0834-2

https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7248/2/3/22