ArticleJournal of rehabilitation medicine2022
Effect of cold and heat therapies on pain relief in patients with delayed onset muscle soreness: A network meta-analysis.
Article in Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of hydrotherapy and cryotherapy on recovery from acute post-exercise induced muscle damage-a network meta-analysis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Pooled it
- Immediate effect of ice and dry massage during rest breaks on recovery in MMA fighters : a randomized crossover clinical trial study.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Acute effects of cold, heat and contrast pressure therapy on forearm muscles regeneration in combat sports athletes: a randomized clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- The cold-water immersion recovery-adaptation paradox: Reconciling acute parasympathetic and analgesic benefits with chronic hypertrophy attenuation.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Physiotherapy approaches for pain control in patients who are critically ill.World journal of critical care medicine · 2026Review
- Heat Therapy: Targeting Health, Disease, and Disability.Comprehensive Physiology · 2026Review
- Efficacy and safety of an improved Xiao-Xu-Ming-Tang traditional Chinese medicine hot compress for preventing catheter-related bladder discomfort: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Muscle regeneration is improved by hot water immersion but unchanged by cold following a simulated musculoskeletal injury in humans.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Most Common Injuries in Resistance Training: Mechanisms, Therapeutic Interventions, and Preventive Strategies.Cureus · 2025Review
- Mechanisms and Efficacy of Contrast Therapy for Musculoskeletal Painful Disease: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Influence of contrast compression therapy and water immersion contrast therapy on biomechanical parameters of the forearm muscles in martial arts athletes.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Immediate Effect of Compression Contrast Therapy on Quadriceps Femoris Muscles' Regeneration in MMA Fighters.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- The Effects of Combined Contrast Heat Cold Pressure Therapy on Post-Exercise Muscle Recovery in MMA Fighters: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of human kinetics · 2024Article
- Exploring the factors affecting the readiness for hospital discharge after total knee arthroplasty: A structural equation model approach.Nursing open · 2024Article
- Current Indications and Future Direction in Heat Therapy for Musculoskeletal Pain: A Narrative Review.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Optimal Duration of Cold and Heat Compression for Forearm Muscle Biomechanics in Mixed Martial Arts Athletes: A Comparative Study.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024Article
- Immediate Effect of Cryo-Compression Therapy on Biomechanical Properties and Perfusion of Forearm Muscles in Mixed Martial Arts Fighters.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Effects of contrast water therapy on proprioception of the knee joint and degree of fatigue in sprinters after high intensity training.American journal of translational research · 2024Article
- Multimodal non-invasive non-pharmacological therapies for chronic pain: mechanisms and progress.BMC medicine · 2023Review
- Trigger Point Injections Versus Medical Management for Acute Myofascial Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo comprehensively compare the effectiveness of cold and heat therapies for delayed onset muscle soreness using network meta-analysis.
methodsEight Chinese and English databases were searched from date of establishment of the database to 31 May 2021. Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was used to analyse the included randomized controlled trials. Potential papers were screened for eligibility, and data were extracted by 2 independent researchers.
resultsA total of 59 studies involving 1,367 patients were eligible for this study. Ten interventions were examined: contrast water therapy, phase change material, the novel modality of cryotherapy, cold-water immersion, hot/warm-water immersion, cold pack, hot pack, ice massage, ultrasound, and passive recovery. Network meta-analysis results showed that: (i) within 24 h after exercise, hot pack was the most effective for pain relief, followed by contrast water therapy; (ii) within 48 h, the ranking was hot pack, followed by the novel modality of cryotherapy; and (iii) over 48 h post-exercise, the effect of the novel modality of cryotherapy ranked first.
conclusionDue to the limited quality of the included studies, further well-designed research is needed to draw firm conclusions about the effectiveness of cold and heat therapies for delayed onset muscle soreness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.