The role of ice after joint mobility training

The core function of ice application after joint activity training is to quickly suppress acute soft tissue stress response, reduce local swelling and moderate to mild pain, and at the same time reduce the onset of delayed onset soreness. However, there is still controversy in the sports medicine community about whether it will interfere with normal training gains. Routine use is not recommended for ordinary people with non-acute discomfort.

To be honest, I led the reserve team of the youth women's basketball team for training a while ago. I just encountered a typical example last week: I practiced hip flexibility activation and extreme deadlift for 40 minutes that day. After class, a 16-year-old player held his waist and talked about the position of the iliopsoas muscle. It hurt, and the waistband of her pants felt swollen even when I tightened it up. I wrapped an ice pack in a quick-drying garment and pressed it on her for 12 minutes. The swelling subsided that night, and she followed up with resistance training as normal the next day. There was no pain like before when some people struggled to put on tight pants.

To put it bluntly, this logic is actually not difficult to understand. When you do joint activity training, whether it is dynamic stretching or resistance activities, the tendons, ligaments, and synovium around the joints are repeatedly stretched and squeezed. If the intensity slightly exceeds the usual load, it is inevitable that small injuries invisible to the naked eye will occur. Local blood vessels will rapidly expand and leak out tissue fluid. This is why you always feel that your joints are swollen and stiff after exercise, and there is obvious tenderness when you press it. Ice application is equivalent to quickly cooling down the local area, shrinking the dilated blood vessels, and reducing the amount of tissue fluid leakage. This will naturally reduce the degree of swelling and pain, and the subsequent delayed onset soreness, which is often said to be so painful that you can't go downstairs the next day after training, can also be reduced a lot. This is the same as when you are splashed with hot oil while cooking and you immediately shower with cold water. You should suppress the excessive reaction first to avoid more troublesome problems later.

But don’t think that icing is a panacea. The industry is quite noisy now. The opposing strength training school believes that the mild inflammatory reaction after training is a necessary signal for muscle repair and strength growth. Once you apply ice, the local metabolic efficiency will directly drop, and the rate of muscle fiber synthesis will also slow down, which is equivalent to losing part of the training effect. I have checked the relevant experimental data, and this statement is indeed tenable, but the premise is that you only have normal muscle soreness after training, and there are no acute reactions such as joint pain, swelling, or limited movement. The applicable scenarios of the two are completely different.

I’ve seen many fitness novices blindly follow suit. I watched professional athletes soak their legs with an ice bucket after a game. After doing a set of squats, I would hold the ice bag and hit it on my knees. It was so cold that my skin turned purple and I couldn’t bear to take it off. The next day, I was in so much pain that I couldn’t go downstairs. In fact, they just don’t understand their own needs: professional players have to work hard every day during the preparation period. The priority is to ensure that they can train normally the next day. Of course, they must rely on ice to suppress acute reactions. ； You only practice three times a week, just to gain some muscle and lose some weight. How can you join in the excitement of applying ice without any injury or pain?

My usual judgment criteria for enthusiasts is very simple: after you move your joints after training, if you feel obvious tingling, difficulty in exerting yourself, or you still feel swollen after 10 minutes, wrap an ice pack with a thin towel and apply it for 8 to 12 minutes, and no more than 15 minutes at most, otherwise the blood vessels will rebound and expand even more if they are frozen for too long, and the swelling will become more severe. If you are just a little sore, you can walk normally and raise your hands without being affected. It is time to stretch and replenish nutrition. There is really no need to touch the ice pack.

After all, ice is just a tool for sports recovery. There is no absolute good or bad, it all depends on the scenario in which you use it. If you really have obvious pain and swelling, don't bear it, just apply it when necessary. ； If nothing happens, don't mess around. A good rest is better than anything else.