Contrast Baths/showers?

[tpvlyrm-]

Despite Pat being a homosexual gay, contrast shit is the mad notes. I can't be fucking bothered with anything these days but when I used to do them they had a very large effect on my recovery. If you get the hot/cold timing right you can even get a pump in the muscle being targetted, srs.

[-Pat-]

no wai

[tpvlyrm-]

wai.

[dlsso]

Originally Posted by -Pat-

Correct.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/conten...00003/art00008

http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/6/392?rss=1

There are loads more but it's impossible to get reputable journal articles without fucking around for ages.

Nice. Any sources for heat or contrast?

[Ashtar]

I find it annoying to do it on and off. I do the entire shower as hot for the soap/shampoo cycle, then once the conditioner is in I set it to really cold to do the rinsing. Actually: hot to rinse off the soap on the skin first, but then cold to rinse out the conditioner because I heard it helps keep in some of the enriching vitamins or something.

I'm sure there's some kinda variable circulation benefit or whatever, but even barring that: once you've opened your pores and cleansed them with hot water, cold water closes them up to maybe slow down dirt's entry until you get warm again (good until you put on your fresh clothes, since you're in a toilet room and probably absorbing feces vapours the second you step out) and it makes it so you don't shiver when you get out because the air's warmer than the water.

[crazyface]

Originally Posted by dlsso

Nice. Any sources for heat or contrast?

I looked on ISI and the only stuff for "contrast shower" I've seen are patents for automated showerheads that create a contrast shower for you. As for the first two, well.

"We conclude that although cold water immersion may reduce muscle stiffness and the amount of post-exercise damage after strenuous eccentric activity, there appears to be no effect on the perception of tenderness and strength loss, which is characteristic after this form of activity."

The mark for success here is specific to recovery from one type of injury (and a self-evaluated one at that, which is dubious as hell) and I'm not sure what stage contrast showers are meant for in terms of intervention. OP said it's to feel amazing and to increase blood flow for a bit. This study didn't exactly refute either of those.

The second study is using self-rated scales in a between-subjects design. They might as well have just made up the data themselves. And they're treating a tepid water treatment as a control. That's not how a control works :P. Download link for the full pdf of the latter:

http://www.easy-share.com/1908385205/sellwood et al 2007.pdf

I found this one that's a bit more conclusive. Ice on and ice off are pretty generalisable to a contrast shower imho.

Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE Volume: 22 Issue: 5 Pages: 379-384 Published: JUL 2001 Times Cited: 35 References: 60

Ice, compression and elevation are the basic principles of acute soft tissue injury. Few clinicians, however, can give specific evidence based guidance on the appropriate duration of each individual treatment session, the frequency of application, or the length of the treatment program. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify the original literature on cryotherapy in acute soft tissue injury and produce evidence based guidance on treatment. A systematic literature search was performed using Medline, Embase, SportDiscus and the database of the National Sports Medicine Institute (UK) using the key words ice, injury, sport, exercise. Temperature change within the muscle depends on the method of application, duration of application, initial temperature, and depth of subcutaneous fat. The evidence from this systematic review suggests that melting iced water applied through a wet towel for repeated periods of 10 minutes is most effective. The target temperature is reduction of 10-15 degreesC. Using repeated, rather than continuous, ice applications helps sustain reduced muscle temperature without compromising the skin and allows the superficial skin temperature to return to normal while deeper muscle temperature remains low. Reflex activity and motor function are impaired following ice treatment so patients may be more susceptible to injury for up to 30 minutes following treatment. It is concluded that ice is effective, but should be applied in repeated application of 10 minutes to be most effective, avoid side effects, and prevent possible further injury.

I'd upload the fulltext for that but it seems my uni's subscription to the specific online journal is down. tl;dr assuming a contrast shower is enough like ice on / off, it helps injury, but if you do anything immediately after treatment, you make the injury a lot worse. Here's the link anyway

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11510876