The Effect of Cold Water Immersion on Cardiac Troponin T and Myoglobin Levels.

OBJECTIVES: Skeletal and cardiac damages occurring in the high intensity training, can reduce the efficiency of the athlete in the next training session. Cold water immersion can help for more efficient recovery in athletes. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of cold water immersion applied after exercise on cardiac troponin T and myoglobin levels. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The experimental group comprised of a total of 23 male football players, of which 12 comprised the study group (age 22.4±3.16 years, height 176.9±6.08 cm, BMI 22.61±1.27 kg/m2) and 11 comprised the control group (age 21.3±2.21 years, height 175.8±5.52 cm, BMI 21.24±3.15 kg/m2).The athletes provided blood samples before exercise (BE) for troponin T (cTnT) and myoglobin (Mb) measurement. Consequently, muscle damage exercise protocol consisting of depth jump, and immediately after this, cold-water immersion at 15°C was applied to experimental group for 10 minutes. The athletes provided blood samples after 2 (2h) and 24 (24h) hours from cold water immersion. Athletes in the control group underwent the same measurements except application of cold-water immersion. RESULTS: While there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the experimental and the control groups regarding troponin values, no significant difference was found for the myoglobin values (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, cTnT level, which is regarded as one of the most specific markers of cardiac injury, was found to be lower in the athletes who underwent cold water immersion. These results indicate that the recovery time may be shorter in athletes undergoing cold-water immersion.