For years, icing was one of the most common recommendations after sports and exercise. More recently, that advice has been questioned, with concerns that reducing inflammation too aggressively could interfere with the body’s natural recovery and adaptation process.
That has pushed the pendulum in the opposite direction, with some athletes avoiding ice altogether.
A recent study involving collegiate baseball pitchers suggests the answer may be more nuanced. In certain situations, especially when an athlete needs to recover quickly before the next practice or competition, cooling may still have a useful role.
Why the Ice Debate Is More Complicated Than It Seems
Much of the debate around ice focuses on what happens inside the body. Cooling can change blood flow, inflammation, and other biological processes involved in recovery.
Those mechanisms matter, but they do not always tell us how an athlete will actually feel or perform afterward.
For an athlete, the more practical questions are often: Is soreness improving? Has strength returned? And is the athlete ready for the next training session?
What Did the Study Find?
Researchers studied 16 collegiate baseball pitchers after a simulated five-inning, 75-pitch outing. Each pitcher completed two different recovery sessions on separate occasions. After pitching, they received either 15 minutes of shoulder icing or 10 minutes of percussive massage.
Researchers then measured shoulder strength, soreness, and the pitchers’ ability to accurately sense shoulder position. By 48 hours, recovery favored icing. Pitchers demonstrated improvements in external rotation strength after icing, reported less soreness, and showed better shoulder joint position sense compared with the percussion condition.
That does not mean ice has suddenly been proven to be the best recovery method. The study was small and did not include a group that received no treatment, so we cannot say for certain that ice sped recovery compared with simply allowing the pitchers to recover naturally. What it does show is that icing performed better than percussive massage across several important recovery measures.
Why 48 Hours Matters for Baseball Pitchers
In MLB, starting pitchers often operate on a five-day cycle between starts. During that window, they typically complete a practice throwing session about 48 hours after pitching in a game to work on mechanics and prepare for their next start.
That makes the study’s 48-hour follow-up especially relevant. If a pitcher is still weak or sore two days after a game, that practice throwing session may need to be pushed back. This moves another meaningful throwing workload closer to the next game and leaves less time to recover before competing again.
For pitchers on different schedules, the same general principle applies. Faster recovery may help create more space between games, practice throwing sessions, and the next competition.
Should Pitchers Start Icing Again?
If the priority is recovering between closely spaced practices or games, cooling may be a reasonable tool. This is similar to how cold-water immersion is sometimes used in sports when short-term recovery and readiness are more important than maximizing all training adaptations. It’s a low-cost, easy-to-use option that may help athletes feel and perform better when the next throwing session is coming up quickly.
Final Thoughts
Ice may help with short-term recovery, but persistent pain, ongoing weakness, or difficulty throwing is different from normal post-pitching soreness and should be evaluated.
A physical therapist can help identify what is contributing to your symptoms and develop a plan to help you recover, rebuild capacity, and return to throwing safely.
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