Have you ever thrown an ice pack on sore muscles or achy joints, thinking you were helping the healing process? Did you ever stop to think that maybe you were HURTING – not helping – your recovery?
This sounds like heresy to many athletes and sports medicine practitioners, but it’s the stone cold truth: ice not only doesn’t help recovery, it actually delays and/or hinders it.
It’s all right there in your exercise physiology textbook. Or even your high school biology textbook. Cryotherapy delays the necessary inflammatory process that is essential for healing. No inflammation, no recovery.
But don’t just take my word for it. Read what some of the biggest names in sports medicine (like Kelly Starrett, Gary Reinl, JC Santana and Dr. Gabe Mirkin) had to say when I interviewed them. When these guys talk, you have to listen.
My latest article, published on Tabata Times, has already stirred up some serious controversy. And deservedly so – I’ve dismantled one of the longest-held traditions in sports medicine. Click the link below to learn why the brightest minds in sport medicine are abandoning ice as a recovery tool.