To understand more clearly how inflammation can be good and why we may not want to treat it with an ice bath, let’s look at why inflammation may occur. Inflammation occurs when we place stress on our bodies, usually due to some form of workout that can be either physical or physiological. Stress plus rest = growth, so inflammation is part of the process for fitness adaptations to occur. During a workout, our muscles are stressed and we get microtears in those muscles. The bodies response is to sound the alarm and attempt to repair these tears as quickly and efficiently as possible and make us stronger. The same happens during a long run when we place our bodies under oxidative stress. Our bodies respond by ensuring we have more mitochondria available for our next run so that we are better prepared. Both of these examples would result in inflammation in one way or another, both with the intention of making us stronger and faster.

 

So why may an ice bath be a bad idea? An ice bath reduces inflammation and can therefore inhibit positive fitness and muscular adaptations. Ice baths blunt pathways that lead to these adaptations that make you stronger and faster. We want that inflammation and repairing process to take time, so that the process is completed in it’s entirety without interruptions.