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Heat Therapy to Accelerate Muscle Recovery

NCT05506514 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 34

Last updated 2025-06-15

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The use of cold on muscle (Ice, Cold Water Immersion - CWI or cryotherapy) is a widespread practice used by health professionals, athletes or non-athletic population in the treatment of muscle soreness and soft tissue injuries. Application of cold on muscle is well known to decrease inflammation and reduce pain perception. However, some studies in humans and animals have reported contrasted effects of cold on muscle regeneration. On the other hand, recent studies in humans suggest that passive heat exposure can impact positively muscle protein synthesis, mitochondrial content and muscle torque in different types of populations. Rodent studies comparing heat and cold modalities following a muscle injury have reported that only repeated heat exposure enhances cross sectional area, accelerate macrophage infiltration in damaged fibers and enhances satellite cells activation which led to a faster muscle regeneration. As such heat therapy may be a promising tool to accelerate recovery after muscle injury. This study will investigate the effect of three distinct thermal interventions (Hot, Cold and Thermoneutral water immersion) on human skeletal muscle regeneration after an eccentric exercise. 36 participants will be distributed in a counterbalanced way into 3 groups being immersed for 15min to 1h per day in either HEAT or COLD or NEUTRAL water for 10 days following eccentric contractions.

Conditions

  • Muscle Damage

Interventions

OTHER

Water immersion

Comparison of 3 different water temperatures

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Aspetar

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
45 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-07-14
Primary Completion
2024-04-27
Completion
2024-04-27

Countries

  • Qatar

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05506514 on ClinicalTrials.gov