Effect of water immersion on recovery from fatigue: a meta-analysis

Authors

  • Braulio Alonso Sanchez-Ureña ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DEL MOVIMIENTO HUMANO Y CALIDAD DE VIDA, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COSTA RICA.
  • Kristy Barrantes-Brais
  • Pedro Ureña-Bonilla
  • Julio Calleja-González
  • Sergej Ostojic

Abstract

The aim of this meta-analysis was to study the effect of cold water immersions and the contrast immersions of cold/hot water. METHODOLOGY: We analyzed studies including search terms in the: title, keywords and abstract. From the analysis overall and corrected (Hedges’s g) effect sizes, 95% confidence intervals, meta-analysis Z, Cochran’s Q and I2 for heterogeneity were obtained. RESULTS: We analyzed 11 studies published from 1998 to 2013, for a total of 48 effect sizes. The global effect size for the cold water immersion was significant (0.38, IC [0.18, 0.58]), Q = 61.77 and I2 = 88.67. For the contrast immersion cold/hot water the global effect size was not significant (0.17, IC [0.00, 0.33]) CONCLUSION: The evidence in this meta-analysis confirms the existence of a positive moderate effect of cold water immersion on the recovery process, but not with contrast immersion, which did not present effect on this process.

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Author Biography

Braulio Alonso Sanchez-Ureña, ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DEL MOVIMIENTO HUMANO Y CALIDAD DE VIDA, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COSTA RICA.

COORDINADOR

PROGRAMA CIENCIAS DEL EJERCICIO Y LA SALUD

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Issue 34

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Published

2015-06-25

Issue

Vol. 34 (2015): June 2015

Section

Original Research

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