IV Therapy and Cold Therapy – Is It The Ultimate Recovery Combination?
There’s always some dominant health protocols and trends floating around the wellness space that at any one time it seems like everyone is talking about and doing – IV therapy and cold therapy seem to be in that realm right now.
Of course, we tend to avoid talking about cold therapy as a trend and are of the opinion that practices like taking an ice bath that provide so much benefit for so little time investment should be a staple of your daily routine.
IV therapy, like cold plunge, is a recovery tool that everyone seems to be posting on their Instagram and TikTok stories, no longer just a medical tool used in the clinical environment. From hangovers to post-race recovery, people are catching on to the benefits of IV therapy, and some savvy folks are even combining IV and cold therapy (not at the same time), for a recovery regime on steroids, pardon the pun.
In this article, we discuss how some IV fluid therapy can compliment your cold plunge and answer your burning questions about this emerging recovery practice.
What Is IV Therapy?
You might have been ‘bagged’ by a nurse or doctor if you’ve ever had surgery, a medical procedure or been treated for a type of injury or illness that required an IV drip, medications, nutrients or fluids.
Although IV therapy has its roots in treating injury, illness or supporting medical treatment, the IV therapy we are talking about has a slightly different goal, although the same route of delivery – intravenous (IV).
IV therapy in the recovery and wellness space has exploded in recent years with many recovery spaces around Australia from Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and more adding IV sessions to their offering for people looking to optimise their levels of hydration and vitamin and mineral intake.
The idea of IV therapy is to rapidly replenish, rehydrate and refresh the system with important electrolytes after intense physical activity or even to ‘top up’ your levels of some important vitamins and minerals that you may be deficient in.
Interestingly, there is not a huge amount of evidence to suggest that IV therapy has any major impacts for athletic performance, however it is well known to aid in adequate hydration and electrolyte balance.
What Is In An IV Bag?
There are an increasing number of options as to what can be in an IV therapy bag when you go into your average IV therapy administering recovery space. Many offer blanket term, ‘stack’ style IV bags that include specific combinations of vitamins and minerals that are designed to help a broadly described area of health – like an ‘immunity boost’, ‘hangover rescue’, ‘athletic recovery’, ‘energy boost’, or ‘migraine rescue’.
Some common ingredients or additives in an IV bag are:
Saline – This is the most common make up of an IV bag and is a feature of many medically used IV. They generally combine sodium chloride and sterile water which provides hydration and electrolytes and can be used to administer other medications.
Magnesium – Magnesium is a very important mineral that helps regulate so many other bodily functions. Magnesium in an IV therapy bag can have positive implications for optimal muscle function and energy production, reducing fatigue, muscle cramps, headaches and “may improve performance parameters in both aerobic and anaerobic exercise”, according to studies.
Vitamin C – This is an antioxidant and also plays a key role in making collagen. Antioxidants like vitamin C are beneficial for exercise recovery as they reduce oxidative stress, the consequences of which include muscle damage, immune dysfunction, and fatigue. However, note that large doses may reduce mitochondrial biogenesis and possibly impair training adaptations.
Vitamin B12 – The B vitamin group are commonly used as a beneficial energy restoring supplement in IV therapy and in general as a widely used supplement. When given intravenously, the vitamin B bypasses the digestive system and improves the absorption of the vitamin. B12 provides benefits for brain function and neurological support, energy levels and fatigue minimisation after exercise, supporting immune health and mood regulation.
Calcium – This is a key nutrient used in IV therapy due to its benefits for bone health, reduce risk of stress fractures and “plays an integral role in nerve impulse conduction and muscle contraction, regulation of blood pressure and maintaining a regular heartbeat, blood clotting, maintaining water balance, secretion of hormones and normal brain function.”, according to the AIS Sports Supplement Framework.
How Long Does An IV Therapy Session Take?
If you have never had an IV session, a common question is ‘how long does IV therapy take?”. The IV therapy should be administered by a registered professional in Australia and takes anywhere between 20 minutes to 60 minutes long.
As this is involves creating an intravenous access, there is a little bit of preparation time to ensure the IV Therapy is done hygienically and safely, like you would for any other medical procedure.
The IV therapy requires the nurse of practitioner to disinfect the skin, prepare the IV bag, find an appropriate vein, insert the needle into the skin, attach the IV bag to the IV access point, prepare the machine that administers the IV bag contents and monitor you over the course of the session.
After this, the reverse process is done and a bandage is applied over the needle sight. Although you can easily find loads of IV therapy friendly wellness spaces across Australia, New Zealand, Bali, UK, USA and most other countries, there are also more services popping up for mobile IV therapy treatment at home, office or hotel room.
What Are The Benefits of IV Therapy?
There are multiple benefits of IV Therapy and these benefits are largely dependant on what combination of vitamins, minerals and electrolytes you choose. Some of the main benefits of IV therapy and the reason to try IV therapy for yourself are:
Rehydrate Efficiently
Reduce Cramping
Reduce Inflammation
Rebalance Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies
How To Combine IV Therapy and Cold Therapy
Combining cold therapy and IV therapy as a recovery protocol duo is an amazing way to minimise recovery time following an intense training session, race, rub, game or event especially when repeat performance is the goal.
We have recently combined these two recovery tools after intense sessions and it is an absolute game changer combination for reducing inflammation, DOMS and replenishing electrolytes and rehydrating efficiently. Sure, IV therapy can be an expensive tool to use multiple time per week and to be completely honest, adequate nutrition and hydration is sufficient to not require IV therapy, it can just be good to add in an IV therapy session when your exercise output, race or game has been a particularly challenging one with extended time, intensity or load.
In terms of timing and order, we have played with doing IV first or cold plunge first, and much prefer ordering the Cold Plunge and IV therapy combination with taking the ice bath first then sitting back and relaxing with the IV therapy after.
With proven benefits like reducing inflammation, metabolic and weight loss benefits, mental health benefits, focus and energy boosting, cold plunging is strongly backed by science. When you combine the science of hydration and cold therapy you are bound to increase your competitive advantage and recovery as fast as fast as possible.
Purpose built cold therapy tools like our Ritual Recovery plunge tub range are designed to make your cold plunge ritual come easier.
