Smitty City

I won't claim that I know for sure...but I think it is actually good for the recovery process. We used to take ice baths after practice. Maybe Dave Blake will read this and weigh in.

I'm not a sports medicine doc (and I think Wiley Mo's comments were a little tongue-in-cheek), but a lot of athletes do ice baths after games, workouts, etc. It doesn't make them sick and is supposed to speed recovery. Physiotherapist Craig Smith writes on the BBC Sports Academy site:

"So how do ice baths help to boost the body's recovery processes and prevent injury?

"When you get into an ice bath for five to 10 minutes, the icy cold water causes your blood vessels to tighten and drains the blood out of your legs. After 10 minutes your legs feel cold and numb.

"So when (an athlete) gets out of the bath, his legs fill up with 'new' blood that invigorates his muscles with oxygen to help the cells function better.

"At the same time, the more blood coming into Jonny's legs will have to leave as well, draining away and at the same time taking with it the lactic acid that has built up from his match.

"Too much lactic acid build up can cause the muscles to function poorly and over a long period of time feelings of fatigue, heavy legs and general tiredness can set in."

Interesting topic. I hadn't really thought about it much, but I'm glad it was brought to my attention to make me think about it.

Thanks for the response, dave. Our coaches always told us to stay in the baths between 5-7 minutes, so it looks like they knew what they were talking about. Thanks for the research, doc.