Coldwater immersion is a post-exercise modality purported to enhance physical recovery following

strenuous exercise.

And people certainly report feeling less sore, less fatigued and more recovered after

cold plunging.

But the vast majority of cryotherapy studies have

been conducted using a do-nothing control group like just sitting in a chair, and have

not taken expectancy effect or treatment belief into account, meaning maybe the cold plunge

only works because people think it works.

In other words, could it just be the placebo effect? Practitioners didn't just

feel better, though. In some cases, they performed better, too. But that also could be a

placebo effect. Give athletes placeboes, and there aren't only effects on perceived exertion, for example, but on actual muscle power,

running speed and even heart rate.

Placebos like sugar pills that are deceptively claimed to be some performance-enhancing drug actually

enhance performance.

Or give one set of people a capsule of cornstarch and say it's going to make them run faster

and another, the same capsule, and tell them it's going to make them run slower,

and you guessed it, the It'll Make You Faster Group ran faster,

and the It'll make you slower group ran slower.

Give people a sugar pill and tell them it's a strong combination of amino acids

with immediate effects on strength,

and they magically leg and bench press more,

until they're informed they were lied to and learned it was just a sugar pill,

...