The usage and perceived effectiveness of different recovery modalities in amateur and elite Rugby athletes

Gaelic Games Players' and Practitioners' Perceptions of Recovery Strategies

PURPOSE

This study both investigated and compared Gaelic games players' and practitioners' perceptions of the importance of postexercise recovery strategies.

METHODS

Gaelic players (n = 1178 [n = 574 female], age 24.6 [6.6] y) and practitioners (n = 148 [n = 29 female], age 35.9 [8.7] y) completed a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of various postexercise recovery strategies (importance ranked out of 5 [1 "not important at all" to 5 "extremely important"]). Players were further categorized by playing standard into developmental (club/collegiate; n = 869) and national (intercounty; n = 309) levels and by sport: Gaelic football (n = 813), camogie/hurling (n = 342), and Gaelic handball (n = 23). Practitioners were categorized as sport coaches (n = 67), strength and conditioning staff (n = 34), nutrition staff (n = 15), and athletic rehabilitation staff (n = 32).

RESULTS

Gaelic players prevalently perceived sleep (76.4%), rehydration (72.5%), postexercise meal (48.4%), stretching (47.6%), active cool-down (25.1%), foam rolling (23.1%), and massage by therapist (22.6%) as "extremely important." Practitioners prevalently perceived sleep (90.1%), rehydration (83.6%), postexercise meal (76.6%), daytime naps (36.2%), stretching (25.4%), discussion with teammates (24.6%), and getting into nature (19.4%) as "extremely important."

CONCLUSIONS

While strategies with well-documented efficacy such as sleep, nutrition, and rehydration were rated as most important, a distinct and possibly problematic disconnect exists between the perceived importance of many strategies and their empirically demonstrated effectiveness. For instance, active cool-downs and stretching were perceived as highly important despite prevailing evidence suggesting that their effects are often small in magnitude. Collectively, work promoting optimal recovery practices and aligning player-practitioner perspectives would be beneficial to maximize time and resource allocation and enhance player buy-in.

Fundamentals or Icing on Top of the Cake? A Narrative Review of Recovery Strategies and Devices for Athletes

The sport and athletic performance industry has seen a plethora of new recovery devices and technologies over recent years, and it has become somewhat difficult for athletes, coaches, and practitioners to navigate the efficacy of such devices or whether they are even required at all. With the increase in recovery devices and tools, it has also become commonplace for athletes to overlook more traditional, well-established recovery strategies. In this narrative review, we discuss recovery strategies in relation to the hierarchy of scientific evidence, classifying them based on the strength of the evidence, ranging from meta-analyses through to case studies and reports. We report that foam rolling, compression garments, cryotherapy, photobiomodulation, hydrotherapy, and active recovery have a high level of positive evidence for improved recovery outcomes, while sauna, recovery boots/sleeves, occlusion cuffs, and massage guns currently have a lower level of evidence and mixed results for their efficacy. Finally, we provide guidance for practitioners when deciding on recovery strategies to use with athletes during different phases of the season.

The Use of Recovery Strategies in Gaelic Games: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

PURPOSE

This study investigated Gaelic games players' (1) use of postexercise recovery strategies; (2) recovery strategies according to sport, biological sex, and playing standard; and (3) recovery strategy periodization.

METHODS

Participants were a total of 1178 Gaelic players (n = 574 female), age 24.6 (6.6) years. These players completed a questionnaire investigating postexercise recovery strategies. Participants were further dichotomized by playing standard into developmental (club/collegiate; n = 869) and national (intercounty; n = 309) levels and by sporting codes: Gaelic football (n = 813), Camogie/hurling (n = 342), and handball (n = 23).

RESULTS

Active recovery (90.4%), cold temperature exposure (79.5%), regular sleep routine (79.1%), strategic nutritional intake (72.3%), and massage (68.8%) were the most commonly used recovery strategies. Recovery strategy use was periodized by 30% of players. A significantly larger proportion of national-level players apply cold temperatures (86.7% vs 73.1%; P = .001) and nutritional strategies (80.1% vs 69.2%; P = .012) when compared with developmental players. A significantly larger proportion of female players have a regular sleep routine (82.6% vs 75.1%; P = .037), apply external heat (63.4% vs 48.5%; P = .002), and perform stretching (76.5% vs 66.4%; P = .002) postexercise when compared with male players. A significantly larger proportion of male players employ nutritional strategies (77.6% vs 67.5%; P = .007) and consume a combination of protein and carbohydrate (62.1% vs 28.0%; P < .001) postexercise when compared with female players.

CONCLUSION

Gaelic games players regularly implement a range of postexercise recovery strategies in an attempt to expediate the return of performance capacity and psychophysiological status to preexercise levels. The current findings may support practitioners who seek to prescribe effective and periodized recovery interventions targeting optimized preference/compliance.

Evidence‐Based Recovery in Soccer – Low‐Effort Approaches for Practitioners

Strategies to improve recovery are widely used among soccer players at both amateur and professional levels. Sometimes, however, recovery strategies are ineffective, improperly timed or even harmful to players. This highlights the need to educate practitioners and athletes about the scientific evidence of recovery strategies as well as to provide practical approaches to address this issue. Therefore, recent surveys among soccer athletes and practitioners were reviewed to identify the recovery modalities currently in use. Each strategy was then outlined with its rationale, its physiological mechanisms and the scientific evidence followed by practical approaches to implement the modality. For each intervention, practical and particularly low-effort strategies are provided to ensure that practitioners at all levels are able to implement them. We identified numerous interventions regularly used in soccer, i.e., sleep, rehydration, nutrition, psychological recovery, active recovery, foam-rolling/massage, stretching, cold-water immersion, and compression garments. Nutrition and rehydration were classified with the best evidence, while cold-water immersion, compression garments, foam-rolling/massage and sleep were rated with moderate evidence to enhance recovery. The remaining strategies (active recovery, psychological recovery, stretching) should be applied on an individual basis due to weak evidence observed. Finally, a guide is provided, helping practitioners to decide which intervention to implement. Here, practitioners should rely on the evidence, but also on their own experience and preference of the players.

Postmatch Recovery Practices Carried Out in Professional Football: A Survey of 56 Portuguese Professional Football Teams

BACKGROUND

In football (ie, soccer), the effectiveness of recovery practices is critical to maintain high levels of performance, prevent residual fatigue, and reduce injury risk. However, the recovery methods that professional football teams put in place up to 72 hours postmatch are widely unknown.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to characterize the postmatch recovery practices in Portuguese football teams in different postmatch periods and match locations.

METHODS

Portuguese football teams (total, N = 56; male: first league [n = 17], second league [n = 16], under-23 league [n = 12]; female: first league, n = 11) participated in the study. The practitioners in charge of recovery strategies in each team filled out the online questionnaire in the middle of the 2019-20 season. The questions focused on the type of recovery methods to be used at different times after home and away matches.

RESULTS

After home matches, stretching, electrostimulation, active recovery, and massage were used with higher frequency (P < .017) in later postmatch periods (ie, 12-24, and 24-72 h) compared with immediately postmatch. After away matches, several differences were found (P < .017) for the stretching, electrostimulation, active recovery, cold-water immersion, massage, nutrition, and sleep between postmatch periods. Regarding match location, stretching (r = .19), active recovery (r = .39), cold-water immersion (r = .46), and massage (r = .29) showed a higher frequency of use immediately after home matches. Conversely, the use of compression garments (r = .27) was higher immediately after away matches.

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that in professional football, recovery methods are not applied uniformly along postmatch periods and differ depending on the match location.

Post-match Recovery Practices in Professional Football: Design, Validity, and Reliability of a New Questionnaire

Introduction: Although several approaches have been proposed to mitigate post-match fatigue, few studies have been conducted in team sports to understand the types of recovery methods and the underlying reasons for the choices of medical and technical staff. This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable online questionnaire to assess the recovery practices implemented by football clubs within 72 h post-match.

Methods: Two research members developed the original questionnaire proposal, and two experts in sports science and sports medicine confirmed the content and face validities. Then, 20 football coaches (age: 39.4 ± 6.8 years) with a minimum of 5 years of experience in professional football (9.1 ± 4.9 years) and with an academic background participated in determining the ecological validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The acceptability and relevance of the questionnaire were determined using descriptive statistics.

Results: After confirming the content and face validities, one questionnaire section with two questions was excluded due to lack of relevance, seven open-ended questions were removed due to the adherence of small participants (i.e., 45.4%), and one section was divided into three to facilitate clearness in reading. The remaining sections were considered acceptable and relevant (>94.1%). About 91.8% of nominal and ordinal items derived from the questionnaire questions showed good to very good reliability outcomes (average k classification: 0.73 ± 0.13; min–max: 0.22–1.00, p < 0.05; average wk classification: 0.82 ± 0.15; min–max: 0.22–1.00, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: This study provided a novel, valid, reliable, and easy-to-use tool to examine the post-match recovery practices in professional football contexts.

Recovery during and after a simulated multi-day tennis tournament: Combining active recovery, stretching, cold-water immersion, and massage interventions

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a mixed-method recovery intervention (MMR) consisting of active recovery, stretching, cold-water immersion, and massage on physical, technical, physiological, and perceptual recovery during and after a five-day simulated tennis tournament. Nine competitive male tennis players (age, 24.6±4.2 years) with national ranking positions (German Tennis Federation) and Universal Tennis Ratings between approximately 11-13 participated in two singles tennis tournaments, which were separated by a three-month washout period. During the tournaments, participants played five two-and-a-half-hour competitive singles tennis match on five consecutive days. For the assignment to one of two groups, athletes were matched into homogeneous pairs according to their ranking. Then, within each pair, the players were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group performed MMR during the first tournament, whereas the other group used passive recovery (PAS). During the second tournament, recovery conditions were interchanged. Measures of physical and technical performance as well as physiological and perceptual responses (heart rate, blood lactate concentration, perceived exertion) were recorded during match-play sessions. Furthermore, muscle soreness, perceived recovery state, blood markers, countermovement jump height (CMJ), and repeated sprint ability (RSA) were determined before, during, and after the five-day tournament periods. Results showed significant changes over time (P < 0.05) in muscle soreness, perceived recovery state, creatine kinase, c-reactive protein, insulin-like growth factor 1, and countermovement jump height. However, no significant differences or recovery strategy x time interactions were noted either for tennis-specific performance (e.g. number of total points won) or any other of the measured parameters between MMR and PAS (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the repeated use of MMR during and after a five-day tennis tournament did not affect match performance, match load, or recovery from repeated days of tennis match play.

Sleep and Performance during a Preseason in Elite Rugby Union Athletes

Background: Preseason training optimises adaptations in the physical qualities required in rugby union athletes. Sleep can be compromised during periods of intensified training. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between sleep quantity and changes in physical performance over a preseason phase in professional rugby union athletes. Methods: Twenty-nine professional rugby union athletes (Mean ± SD, age: 23 ± 3 years) had their sleep duration monitored for 3 weeks using wrist actigraphy. Strength and speed were assessed at baseline and at week 3. Aerobic capacity and body composition were assessed at baseline, at week 3 and at week 5. Participants were stratified into 2 groups for analysis: <7 h 30 min sleep per night (LOW, n = 15) and >7 h 30 min sleep per night (HIGH, n = 14). Results: A significant group x time interaction was determined for aerobic capacity (p = 0.02, d = 1.25) at week 3 and for skinfolds at week 3 (p < 0.01, d = 0.58) and at week 5 (p = 0.02, d = 0.92), in favour of the HIGH sleep group. No differences were evident between groups for strength or speed measures (p ≥ 0.05). Conclusion: This study highlights that longer sleep duration during the preseason may assist in enhancing physical qualities including aerobic capacity and body composition in elite rugby union athletes.

Perceptions and use of recovery strategies: Do swimmers and coaches believe they are effective?

This study aimed to investigate swimmer's use and coach prescription of recovery strategies during training and competition while examining perceived challenges, barriers, and beliefs in the importance of their effectiveness. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was implemented. Thirty-seven male and 45 female sub-elite to elite swimmers (age 18 ± 3 y), and 4 male and 6 female coaches (age 40 ± 9 y) completed an online, 78-item recovery strategy survey. Swimmers and coaches responded to questions regarding when, why, and how they used recovery strategies, perceived challenges and barriers to strategy inclusion during training and competition. Data were coded and analysed thematically. Fisher's Exact Test was conducted on 5-point Likert scale responses. Most recovery strategies were used and prescribed more during competition. Swimmers reported active recovery as the most effective recovery strategy (44%), whereas coaches rated sleep or napping (40%). Swimmers and coaches perceived most recovery strategies to be more effective and important during competition than in training. Swimmers used, and coaches prescribed, recovery strategies more during the competition, highlighting the discrepancies in use between training and competition. Targeted education programmes should enhance athletes and coach's recovery knowledge and practical application of strategies, while accounting for individual sport and life demands.

Lower-body compression garments worn following exercise improves perceived recovery but not subsequent performance in basketball athletes

This study examined the effects of lower-body compression garments on perceived recovery and subsequent performance in basketball athletes. In a parallel-group design, 30 recreational, male basketball athletes were randomly allocated to either a control (CON, n = 15, loose-fitting clothing) or experimental group (COMP, n = 15, compression garments) for 15 h following fatigue-inducing, basketball-specific exercise in the evening (1600-1800 h). Perceptual measures of fatigue and muscle soreness, as well as physical performance tests (sprints, jumps and agility), were performed pre-exercise, post-exercise, and post-recovery (15 h following exercise). Subjective and objective measures of sleep were recorded following the exercise trial. There were non-significant (p > 0.05), unclear-trivial differences between groups for all performance measures. Perceived post-recovery fatigue (d = -1.27, large) and muscle soreness (d = -1.61, large) were significantly lower in COMP compared to CON (p < 0.05). COMP exhibited better perceived sleep quality (d = 0.42, small, p = 0.18) than CON, with an unclear difference in sleep duration between groups (p > 0.05). Wearing lower-body compression garments overnight improved perceived fatigue and muscle soreness, but had negligible effects on subsequent physical performance in basketball athletes. Future research should focus on longer periods of compression wear following fatiguing exercise.

Effects of Chronic Cold-Water Immersion in Elite Rugby Players

PURPOSE

Although the acute effects of cold-water immersion (CWI) have been widely investigated, research analyzing the effects of CWI over a chronic period in highly trained athletes is scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of CWI during an intense 3-wk preseason phase in elite rugby athletes.

METHODS

A total of 23 elite male rugby union athletes were randomized to either CWI (10 min at 10°C, n = 10) or a passive recovery control (CON, n = 13) during 3 wk of high-volume training. Athletes were exposed to either CWI or CON after each training day (12 d in total). Running loads, conditioning, and gym sessions were kept the same between groups. Measures of countermovement jump, perceived muscle soreness, and wellness were obtained twice a week, and saliva samples for determining cortisol and interleukin-6 were collected once per week.

RESULTS

Although no significant differences were observed between CWI and CON for any measure, CWI resulted in lower fatigue markers throughout the study as demonstrated by the moderate effects on muscle soreness (d = 0.58-0.91) and interleukin-6 (d = -0.83) and the small effects (d = 0.23-0.38) on countermovement jump in comparison with CON.

CONCLUSIONS

CWI may provide some beneficial effect by reducing fatigue and soreness during an intense 3-wk training phase in elite rugby athletes.

Do We Need a Cool-Down After Exercise? A Narrative Review of the Psychophysiological Effects and the Effects on Performance, Injuries and the Long-Term Adaptive Response

It is widely believed that an active cool-down is more effective for promoting post-exercise recovery than a passive cool-down involving no activity. However, research on this topic has never been synthesized and it therefore remains largely unknown whether this belief is correct. This review compares the effects of various types of active cool-downs with passive cool-downs on sports performance, injuries, long-term adaptive responses, and psychophysiological markers of post-exercise recovery. An active cool-down is largely ineffective with respect to enhancing same-day and next-day(s) sports performance, but some beneficial effects on next-day(s) performance have been reported. Active cool-downs do not appear to prevent injuries, and preliminary evidence suggests that performing an active cool-down on a regular basis does not attenuate the long-term adaptive response. Active cool-downs accelerate recovery of lactate in blood, but not necessarily in muscle tissue. Performing active cool-downs may partially prevent immune system depression and promote faster recovery of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. However, it is unknown whether this reduces the likelihood of post-exercise illnesses, syncope, and cardiovascular complications. Most evidence indicates that active cool-downs do not significantly reduce muscle soreness, or improve the recovery of indirect markers of muscle damage, neuromuscular contractile properties, musculotendinous stiffness, range of motion, systemic hormonal concentrations, or measures of psychological recovery. It can also interfere with muscle glycogen resynthesis. In summary, based on the empirical evidence currently available, active cool-downs are largely ineffective for improving most psychophysiological markers of post-exercise recovery, but may nevertheless offer some benefits compared with a passive cool-down.

Recovery practices in Division 1 collegiate athletes in North America

OBJECTIVES

Establish current practice and attitudes towards recovery in a group of Division-1 Collegiate athletes from North America.

DESIGN

A 16-item questionnaire was administered via custom software in an electronic format.

PARTICIPANTS

152 student athletes from a Division-1 Collegiate school across 3 sports (Basketball, American Football, Soccer).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The approaches and attitudes to recovery in both training and competition.

RESULTS

Sleep, cold water immersion (CWI) and nutrition were perceived to be the most effective modalities (88, 84 and 80% of the sample believed them to have a benefit respectively). Over half the sample did not believe in using compression for recovery. With regard to actual usage, CWI was the most used recovery modality and matched by athletes believing in, and using, the approach (65%). Only 24% of student athletes believed in, and used, sleep as a recovery modality despite it being rated and perceived as the most effective.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, there is a discrepancy between perception and use of recovery modalities in Collegiate athletes.