(English) Episode 229-Why Heat Beats Ice for Muscle Regeneration

This research study, published in The Journal of Physiology, investigates the effectiveness of thermal therapies on human muscle regeneration following simulated musculoskeletal injury. Researchers compared hot water immersion (HWI), cold water immersion (CWI), and thermoneutral water immersion (TWI) over a ten-day period using measures of muscle force, pain, and biological markers from biopsies. The findings reveal that HWI significantly reduced muscle soreness and circulating markers of damage while promoting a faster transition from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory cellular phases.In contrast, the widely used CWI showed no benefits for pain relief or muscle recovery and appeared to blunt the expression of protective heat shock proteins. Ultimately, the evidence supports heat therapy as a superior method for facilitating the biological processes of muscle healing compared to traditional icing.(Dablainville V, Mornas A, Normand-Gravier T, Al-Mulla M, Papakostas E, Olory B, et al. Muscle regeneration is improved by hot water immersion but unchanged by cold following a simulated musculoskeletal injury in humans. J Physiol [Internet]. 2025;603(23):7603–25. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/JP287777)