7 Best Ice Bath Tubs to Ease Muscle Soreness at Home

By Spenser Mestel

Soaking in an ice bath to treat sore muscles and joints is nothing new.

“The routine of taking cold plunges after an intense workout or competition has been common practice for centuries,” says Matthew Kampert, DO, staff physician in Sports Medicine and Endocrinology and director of exercise medicine at the Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute. “More recently, however, these practices have been better studied through research that evaluates the pathways that are activated or made inactive by this icy environment.”

What Does an Ice Bath Do?

After a workout, your body needs to repair itself to prepare for the next training session. It does so with the help of blood vessels that bring oxygen to your muscle tissue while removing waste products of exercise—the most common being lactic acid.

Too much lactic acid buildup can cause your muscles to function poorly and will often lead to fatigue. An ice bath will immediately reduce swelling while flushing lactic acid out of your body.

When you sit in an ice bath, the cold causes your blood vessels to tighten. This helps drain lactic acid out of tired muscles. When you get out of the bath, your muscle tissue warms back up, causing a return of oxygenated blood, which, in theory should help muscles recover.

Ice Bath Benefits

Kampert says ice baths can be an effective tool for your training, but it depends on what your goal is.

Lessen Pain and Inflammation

While celebrities and athletes tout ice baths for being a recovery cure-all, the science is a bit lukewarm.

Ice baths can be beneficial “if the athlete is trying to improve recovery by decreasing inflammation from an acute injury or workout,” Kampert notes. It makes sense for Keanu Reeves to hop into an ice bath after filming stunts for John Wick: Chapter 4, but inflammation isn't always a bad thing.

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Ease Soreness

Slipping into ice baths post-workout isn't just an athletic rite of passage. As noted, it can alleviate muscle soreness and stiffness, and get you ready for your next bout, according to research from the American Council on Exercise.

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