Ice bath
In sports therapy, an ice bath, or sometimes cold-water immersion or cold therapy, is a training regimen usually following a period of intense exercise in which a substantial part of a human body is immersed in a bath of ice or ice-water for a limited duration.
The method is controversial, with a risk of hypothermia, with the possibility of shock leading to sudden death. Many athletes have used cold water immersion after an intense exercise workout in the belief that it speeds up bodily recovery; however, the internal physical processes are not well understood and remain elusive. Evidence supporting cold water immersion as part of an athletic training has been mixed, with some studies suggesting a mild benefit such as reducing muscle damage and discomfort and alleviating delayed onset muscle soreness, with other studies suggesting that cold water immersion may slow muscle growth and interfere with an overall training regimen.
Ice baths exist as a practice outside the sports and exercise world as well. They have earlier roots of being used to combat extreme heat exposure in certain cultures. For instance, the Maya of Yucatan utilised the practice of “ice baths [and] ice-water baths” as a “treatment of heatstroke” This population categorizes the objects and processes in their lives that are related to health as “hot” and “cold" types and are always trying to balance the two. In this context, the necessity and statistics of ice bathing are no longer relevant, as the practise is rather a “behavioural adaptation” for these peoples.unclear