Effect of CO and H gas mixture in cold water immersion on recovery after eccentric loading.

Background: The findings of previous studies support the efficacy of cold water immersion (CWI) with carbon dioxide (CO) in enhancing muscle blood flow and maintaining aerobic performance efficiency. We hypothesize that the addition of hydrogen gas (H), known for its antioxidant properties and role in inflammation regulation, to C-CWI can enhance recovery after eccentric exercise.

Subjects: and Methods: Thirty-four healthy subjects performed a knee-extensor eccentric exercise. They were randomly allocated into four groups: control, CWI, CO-rich CWI (C-CWI), and CO + H gas mixture CWI (CH-CWI). In the three CWI groups, all subjects were immersed in the appropriate bath at 20 °C for 20 min immediately after 60 repetitions of eccentric exercise. Before exercise and after 48 h of recovery, the subjects' maximal voluntary isometric contraction torque (MVC-ISO), maximal voluntary concentric (MVC-CON) contraction torque, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, knee flexion range of motion (ROM), muscle soreness, and muscle thickness were measured.

Results: In the CH-CWI group only, the MVC-ISO, CMJ height, and ROM did not decrease significantly post-exercise, whereas all of these decreased in the other three groups. Muscle soreness at palpation, contraction, and stretching significantly increased post-exercise in all groups. Echo intensity and tissue hardness did not increase significantly in the CH-CWI group.

Conclusions: CH-CWI stimulated recovery from impairments in MVC-ISO torque, CMJ height, knee-flexion ROM, tissue hardness, and echo intensity. These findings indicate that CH-CWI can promote recovery after eccentric exercise.