Research summary · Recovery and rehabilitation
Contrast showers after combat-sport training
A four-week field trial compares post-training contrast showers with thermoneutral showers across perceived, autonomic, endocrine and microvascular recovery outcomes.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Randomised field trial
- Journal
- Journal of Sports Science & Medicine
- Population / context
- Trained combat-sport athletes
What the publication reports
Sixty athletes were randomised and 57 met the per-protocol threshold. Contrast showers produced short-term favourable changes in perceived recovery and heart-rate-variability measures, but not cortisol or microvascular reactivity; effects were absent after a two-week washout.
Limits and interpretation
Per-protocol analysis can bias estimates, several outcomes were tested and effects did not persist. The study does not establish lasting adaptation or benefit over all recovery strategies.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Contrast Heat-Cold Versus Thermoneutral Showering in Trained Combat Sport Athletes: A Randomized Field Trial of Recovery Outcomes
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 42713556DOI: 10.52082/jssm.2026.675Full text at the sourceReader discussion
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