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All 187 studies in the study browser
Included: human randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses on cold water immersion indexed in PubMed, plus prospective cohort studies. A PubMed search on October 15, 2026 returned 438 records. 187 remain after excluding protocols, retractions, comments, papers that did not study cold water immersion as the intervention or exposure and trials that measured no effect covered in the article. Below are all 30 reviews and the 25 highest-scored individual studies. The study browser has the rest.
Scores run from 1 to 5 and rate study design only. The rules and reason codes are on Study Scores. Each finding restates the abstract's own conclusion.
Back to Cold water immersion
| Score | Study | Design, n | Finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 (MA +large) | Chen, 2024 | Meta-analysis, 57 studies, n=1,220 | We found that CWT was the best for recovering biochemical markers CK, and CRYO was best for muscle soreness and neuromuscular recovery. In clinical practice, we recommend the use of CWI and CRYO for reducing EIMD. |
| 5 (MA +large) | Jdidi, 2024 | Meta-analysis, 27 studies | Our meta-analysis suggests that cryostimulation and/or CWI exposure enhance parasympathetic nervous activity. There is scarce scientific literature regarding the effect of individual characteristics on cold-induced physiological responses. |
| 5 (MA +large) | Doets, 2021 | Meta-analysis, 196 studies, n=294 | Results indicate preliminary evidence for WBC as efficacious add-on intervention for mental health problems, especially depressive symptoms. Further research in the form of RCTs with larger numbers of participants is needed. |
| 4 (MA) | Liu, 2026 | Meta-analysis, 13 studies, n=214 | CWI appears more effective than BC for short-term DOMS relief. BC may offer a modest, short-term advantage in jump performance recovery, though this finding is limited by heterogeneity and a marginal effect size. |
| 4 (MA) | Veen, 2026 | Meta-analysis, 10 studies | However, as the 95% PIs for all outcomes included the null effect, the observed benefits should be interpreted cautiously, as future studies may yield smaller or null effects. Overall, CWI may enhance recovery of muscle strength,... |
| 4 (MA) | Saidane, 2026 | Meta-analysis, 5 studies, n=310 | WBC significantly improved pain, function, and disease activity in patients with AS. As a promising nonpharmacological adjunct therapy, further research is needed to optimize protocols and evaluate its tolerance and long-term efficacy. |
| 4 (SR +large) | Shahani, 2025 | Systematic review, 386 studies | The use of CWI can be done under different conditions, depending on the target population and their needs. Overall, its use yields more positive effects, although contradictions persist. |
| 4 (MA) | He, 2025 | Meta-analysis, 11 studies | The level of IL-10 in serum of people exposed to WBC was higher than that in control group ( SMD value was 0.78 pg/mL, P < 0.05), and obese people exposed to WBC were more likely to benefit from this than athletes. WBC... |
| 4 (MA) | Cain, 2025 | Meta-analysis, 11 studies, n=3,177 | This systematic review suggests that CWI delivers time-dependent effects on inflammation, stress, immunity, sleep quality, and quality of life, offering potential practical applications for health practitioners considering CWI... |
| 4 (MA) | Moore, 2023 | Meta-analysis, 8 studies | CWI is effective for promoting recovery from acute strenuous exercise in physically active populations compared with other common recovery methods. |
| 4 (MA) | Grgic, 2023 | Meta-analysis, 10 studies | However, when CWI was applied to the whole body, there was no significant difference between CWI and control for muscular strength. Due to the attenuated gains in muscular strength found with single limb CWI, the use and/or... |
| 4 (MA) | Choo, 2022 | Meta-analysis, 8 studies | CWI seems to benefit the acute recovery of endurance performance, and longer-term recovery of muscle strength and power, coinciding with changes in muscle damage markers. This, however, depends on the nature of the preceding exercise. |
| 4 (SR +large) | Falla, 2021 | Systematic review, 18 studies | The most investigated and affected cognitive domains were attention and processing speed, executive function, and memory. Gender differences and effects of repeated exposure and possible acclimation on cognitive performance need... |
| 4 (MA) | Malta, 2021 | Meta-analysis, 8 studies | The regular use of CWI associated with exercise programs has a deleterious effect on resistance training adaptations but does not appear to affect aerobic exercise performance. |
| 4 (MA) | Rymaszewska, 2020 | Meta-analysis, 7 studies | Our findings imply that WBC may exert beneficial effects on the lipid profile in terms of lowering the levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides. Lower BMI may predict a greater improvement of lipid profile during WBC.... |
| 4 (MA) | King, 2019 | Meta-analysis | Both conditions respectively show greater activation in these areas and no areas are common between conditions. Our results confirm the long-standing hypothesis that noxious cold is encoded in the right anterior insula, but... |
| 4 (MA) | Stephens, 2018 | Meta-analysis, n=157 | Variations in CWI mode, duration, and temperature may have a significant effect on the extent of change in Tc. Careful consideration should be given to determine the optimal amount of core cooling before deciding which... |
| 4 (MA) | Machado, 2016 | Meta-analysis, 9 studies | The available evidence suggests that CWI can be slightly better than passive recovery in the management of muscle soreness. The results also demonstrated the presence of a dose-response relationship, indicating that CWI with a... |
| 4 (SR +large) | Bleakley, 2010 | Systematic review, 16 studies | Much of this evidence is derived from full body immersions using resting healthy participants. The physiological and biochemical rationale for using short periods of CWI in sports recovery still remains unclear. |
| 3 (SR) | Liu, 2026 | Systematic review | Current research faces challenges such as high heterogeneity in exposure parameters, lack of core body temperature monitoring, and insufficient mechanistic validation. Future efforts should establish standardized research... |
| 3 (MA -few) | Zhu, 2026 | Meta-analysis, 2 studies | Acute CWI exerts outcome-specific effects on post-exercise recovery. It showed no meaningful effect on MVIC, transiently impaired immediate explosive performance, and may reduce subjective soreness, whereas the apparent CK... |
| 3 (SR) | Galvez-Rodriguez, 2025 | Systematic review, 12 studies | The results of this study indicate that CWI after exercise may have a positive acute effect on parasympathetic reactivation, as measured by HRV. |
| 3 (MA -few) | Batista, 2023 | Meta-analysis, 4 studies | This study suggests that CWI is better than control for the management of muscle soreness and water temperature and CWI protocol do not influence this result, but only short and medium immersions times presented positive effects.... |
| 3 (MA -few) | Moore, 2022 | Meta-analysis, 2 studies | CWI was an effective recovery tool after high-intensity exercise, with positive outcomes occurring for muscular power, muscle soreness, CK, and perceived recovery 24 h after exercise. However, after eccentric exercise, CWI was... |
| 3 (MA -few) | Choo, 2018 | Meta-analysis, 2 studies | ICE had no clear effect on performance measures (+0.2 [-0.07; 0.46]) but resulted in greater ΔEX-Tcore (+1.02 [0.59; 1.45]) and ΔEX-Tskin (+0.34 [0.02; 0.67]) without concomitant changes in peak Tcore (-0.1 [-0.48; 0.28]), peak... |
| 3 (MA -few) | Higgins, 2017 | Meta-analysis, 3 studies | In evaluating subjective measures, both CWI (72 hours) and CWT (24 hours) were beneficial for recovery of perceptions of fatigue, following team sport. However neither CWI nor CWT was beneficial for recovery, of perceptions of... |
| 3 (MA -few) | Costello, 2015 | Meta-analysis, 4 studies, n=44 | The lack of evidence on adverse events is important given that the exposure to extreme temperature presents a potential hazard. Further high-quality, well-reported research in this area is required and must provide detailed... |
| 3 (SR) | Guillot, 2014 | Systematic review, 6 studies | Cryotherapy should be included in RA therapeutic strategies as an adjunct therapy, with potential corticosteroid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug dose-sparing effects. However, techniques and protocols should be more... |
| 2 (SR +large -nonRCT -industry) | Motzfeldt Jensen, 2025 | Systematic review, 429 studies | Due to the heterogeneity of the included studies, a meta-analysis was not pursued. Results indicate high BAT activity in Arctic populations, as supported by increased supraclavicular skin temperatures after cold exposure, thyroid... |
| 1 (NOABS) | Leeder, 2012 | Meta-analysis | No abstract in PubMed; not summarized. |
| Score | Study | Design, n | Finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 (RCT +blind) | Rymaszewska, 2021 | RCT, n=62 | WBC may increase the performance of cognitive functions. It seems promising to combine WBC with existing behavioural and cognitive trainings in the future studies investigating early interventions methods in MCI. |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n?) | Dobashi, 2026 | RCT | These results suggest that whole-body CWI following rugby-specific training may be associated with favorable changes in endurance exercise performance 24 h post-intervention compared with the control condition. However, the... |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n<30) | Dutra, 2025 | RCT, n=12 | While CWI11° increased cardiac vagal modulation and HWI41° reduced oxygen consumption rate in post-intervention submaximal brief runs, neither intervention improved knee-extensor voluntary or involuntary peak force, perceptual... |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n<30) | Batista, 2024 | RCT, n=20 | The repeated use of CWI throughout a training week did not impact functional or swim performance outcomes of competitive adolescent swimmers. Perceptive outcomes were also similar across interventions; however, athletes indicated... |
| 3 (RCT open) | Zwaag, 2022 | RCT, n=48 | The combination of cold exposure training and a breathing exercise most potently attenuates the in vivo inflammatory response in healthy young males. Our study demonstrates that the immunomodulatory effects of the intervention... |
| 3 (RCT open) | Bartley, 2021 | RCT, n=100 | Novelty: Ironman World Championship event increased circulating muscle damage markers, inflammatory markers, and hematological parameters, including circulating immune cell sub-populations that recover 24-48 hours after the race.... |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n?) | de Freitas, 2019 | RCT | Cortisol decreased only in the CWI-group (p ≤ 0.05) and the ESs of the between group comparisons of Δ% between moments of the testosterone to cortisol ratio (-1.94) and insulin-like growth-1 (-1.34) were large. Despite the... |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n?) | Wilson, 2018 | RCT | The findings show WBC has a negative impact on muscle function, perceptions of soreness and a number of blood parameters compared to CWI, contradicting the suggestion that WBC may be a superior recovery strategy. Further,... |
| 3 (RCT open) | Vieira, 2016 | RCT, n=42 | The result suggests that cold-water immersion promote recovery of stretch-shortening cycle performance, but not influence the recovery of maximal contractile force. Immersion at warmer temperature may be more effective than... |
| 3 (RCT open) | Kulikov, 2015 | RCT, n=55 | The data obtained in the present study shed light on some specific features of the action of whole body cryotherapy accounting for its corrective influence on the muscular disorders in the patients presenting with ankylosing... |
| 3 (RCT open) | Glasgow, 2014 | RCT, n=50 | Altering the treatment duration, water temperature or dosage of post exercise water immersion had minimal effect on outcomes relating to DOMS. |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n?) | Gonzalez, 2014 | RCT | Additionally, supplementation with HMB-FA significantly elevated the percentage of monocytes expressing CR3 during recovery. Although the time course that inflammatory responses are most beneficial remains to be determined,... |
| 3 (RCT +blind -n?) | Leal Junior, 2011 | RCT | We concluded that treating the leg muscles with LEDT 5 min after the Wingate cycle test seemed to inhibit the expected post-exercise increase in blood lactate levels and CK activity. This suggests that LEDT has better potential... |
| 2 (RCT open -acute) | Buehler, 2026 | RCT, n=39 | Neither immediate nor delayed cooling provided a meaningful recovery advantage over the control. The protocol reproducibly elicited fatigue and recovery dynamics, supporting its utility as a framework for future cryotherapy research. |
| 2 (RCT open -n?) | de Groot, 2026 | RCT | However, WHM-C participants reported reduced pain interference in daily activities compared to UC (p=0.027). WHM-C also showed improvements in inspiratory parameters FIV1 (+27%, p=0.02) and PIF (+23%, p=0.02) and a significant... |
| 2 (RCT open -n<30) | Malta, 2026 | RCT, n=7 | No significant alterations were observed in inflammatory markers over time (p ≥ 0.395) and condition (p ≥ 0.115). In conclusion, 5 weeks of post-exercise CWI following HIIT did not influence the satellite cell pool, muscle... |
| 2 (RCT open -n<30) | Skein, 2025 | RCT, n=1 | Tcore, RPE, and TS were lower throughout ISP2 for CWI (P = 0.001-0.04). Therefore, CWI as a recovery modality between successive bouts of simulated rugby sevens in the heat may negatively affect initial high intensity performance... |
| 2 (RCT open -n?) | Pereira, 2025 | RCT | Our findings clearly demonstrate that CWI significantly reduces pain prevalence, both at rest and during exercise, as evidenced by the absence of pain reports from participants 48 hours after the intervention. While our study... |
| 2 (RCT open -n<30) | Staszkiewicz, 2025 | RCT, n=18 | Under the effect of whole-body cryotherapy treatments, there was slight improvement in the stability in patients with multiple sclerosis. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that WBC, without... |
| 2 (RCT open -n?) | Richards, 2025 | RCT | Despite these differences, HIIE performance during a repeat bout conducted 24 h later remained similar. In conclusion, 10 min of CWI at 10°C does not enhance post-exercise recovery or next-day exercise performance following HIIE. |
| 2 (RCT open -n<30) | Slezáková, 2025 | RCT, n=12 | Our results indicate that the Wim Hof method appears to be a suitable complementary non-pharmacological treatment for neuropsychiatric symptoms of MS. |
| 2 (RCT open -n<30) | Grigg, 2025 | RCT, n=10 | When presented with an ad-libitum meal directly after cold-water immersion, participants consumed more in comparison to both thermoneutral water immersion and thermoneutral ambient air. With cold water immersion becoming popular,... |
| 2 (RCT open -n<30) | Huang, 2025 | RCT, n=9 | MVC increased by 89.3 ± 2.0% on the fourth day (p < 0.013), DOMS decreased by 15.4 ± 1.5 mm on the second day (p < 0.000), SLR increased by 86.3 ± 1.1% on the second day (p < 0.014), and plasma Mb decreased by 436.3 ± 60.8% on... |
| 2 (RCT open -n?) | Pinheiro, 2024 | RCT | Multiple cold-water immersions at 10 °C for 10 min decreases CK concentration but does not change any clinical and neuromuscular markers of muscle damage in soccer players during a 9-day preseason. |
| 2 (RCT open -n?) | El-Ansary, 2024 | RCT | Regular cold shower exposure appears to enhance humoral and cell-mediated immunity through the upregulation of antibodies, interleukin-2, and interleukin-4. Brief cold stressors may induce physiological adaptations that prime the... |