Did you know that cooling therapy has a major positive impact on sore and tired muscles after exercise? We got the lowdown from the experts at Deep Freeze:
Physiological Response to Exercise or an Activity
The physiological response to exercise is dependent on the intensity, duration and frequency of the exercise as well as the environmental conditions. During physical exercise, requirements for oxygen and substrate in skeletal muscle are increased, as is the removal of metabolites and carbon dioxide.
Circulatory Response to Exercise or an Activity
To dissipate the extra heat generated as a result of an increased metabolism during exercise, blood supply to the skin must be increased. This is achieved with vasodilatation of cutaneous vessels by inhibition of the vasoconstrictor tone. The evaporation of sweat is also a major pathway for heat loss and further heat is lost in the expired air with ventilation.
Speed Up Your Recovery and Limit Overuse Injuries
Facilitating proper recovery after training sessions is essential to improving the athlete’s performance as it allows us to shorten rest times between sessions and increase workload in subsequent sessions. There are several strategies to accelerate recovery. These range from nutritional through to physical strategies such as massages, active recovery or applying cold therapy. The latter of these strategies is, in fact, one of the most popular nowadays in team sports, and it is common to see top-level athletes submerged in ice baths following a game or an intense training session.
The Advantages of Cryotherapy (Cold Therapy) Post-Exercise
This method is used on the basis that the application of cold reduces the perception of pain as it can reduce the speed of nerve conduction and blood flow to working muscles, thus limiting inflammation and swelling.
Therefore, the application of a cold therapy post-exercise can be an efficient short-term strategy for alleviating fatigue and muscle pain, post intense exercise. It is important to note that cold therapy does not directly improve on one’s athletic or training performance. It does however activate a series of cellular mechanisms that promote adaptations to training.
It is advisable to apply a cold therapy following exercise when the objective is to avoid muscle pain and mitigate performance loss without affecting the adaptations produced from that session. For example, recovering from a back-to-back exercise or activity that has taken place in a short period of time. However, this strategy appears to hinder muscular adaptation to the exercise, and its general inclusion in the plan would therefore not be advisable if the objective is to improve long-term performance.
Cold cooling therapies, such as the Deep Freeze Cold Gel can help reduce the feeling of muscle pain and mitigate reduced performance following a session or intense game, thus accelerating recovery. Deep Freeze Cold Gel has a cooling action that helps sooth sore and overworked, tired muscles and joints. It also helps reduce inflammation after exercise and brings relief to the discomfort associated with arthritis, painful lesions of the muscles, tendons and joints.
Sound like something you’d like to try after your next workout? Go enter our Deep Freeze competition over here to stand a chance of winning a Deep Freeze hamper filled with post-exercise products!
This post was sponsored by Deep Freeze.
Comment below by telling us how Deep Freeze has helped you after exercise or an activity.
