Efeito do uso acumulativo da crioterapia por imersão na recuperação de atletas de futebol: ensaio clínico randomizado

Abstract

Football is a sport with congested calendars, which requires recovery strategies such as cold water immersion (CWI). This recovery technique is well spread through football clubs, although it lacks a profound physiologic investigation to understand its effects on athlete’s body. Objectives: The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of a long-term CWI exposure in football athlete’s. Methodology: In order to answer this question, we performed a randomized clinical trial in 23 sub-20 football athletes. All subjects were randomly divided into two groups; a control group (10 minutes seated rest) and a CWI group (10 minutes in a 10C) during seven days in a row. We evaluated creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as molecular biomarkers for muscle damage. The blood samples were collected on the first, second, ninth and tenth days. Yet, we assessed the peak of muscle activity and isometric strength of the knee flexors and extensors, potency of lower limbs, perceived exertion (PE) and total quality recovery perceived (TQRPer) in order to understand the treatment physiological effect on the subjects on the first and last day of experiments (before and after training). Results: We found that CK is lower in the CWI group compared to control on the days 9 and 10 but not on the first applications. The LDH levels were different between groups only on the last evaluation on the tenth day. We did not find any changes in the neuromuscular performance or on the PE evaluation. Although, we found differences in the TQRPer evaluation comparing CWI and control groups on the fifth and sixth days. Conclusion: The long-term CWI exposure attenuates muscles damage, increase the perceived recovery and doesn’t inhibit the process of adaptation necessary for the performance improvement.