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In sports therapy, an ice bath, or sometimes cold-water immersion or cold therapy, is a training regimen usually following a period of intense exercise〔〔 in which a substantial part of a human body is immersed in a bath of ice or ice-water for a limited duration. While it is becoming increasingly popular and accepted among athletes in a variety of sports,〔〔〔〔 the method is controversial〔 and potentially dangerous,〔 with little solid scientific evidence to support or refute its usefulness or to understand its method of operation within the body〔〔 (although there is speculation about processes within the body regarding vasoconstriction). In medicine, the practice would be classified as cryotherapy which uses low temperatures as medical therapy. ==History== There have been traditions of people ice swimming in the middle of winter on a lake for short stretches, sometimes as part of a Polar Bear Club. Sometimes people taking short swims for thirty seconds or so have felt invigorated afterwards.〔 The Coney Island Polar Bear Club was founded in 1903. A Polar Bear member explained: In the 1890s, Russian immigrant Professor Louis Sugarman of Little Falls, New York, brought his practice of ice bathing to the United States. He attracted worldwide attention for his daily plunge in the Mohawk River, even when the thermostat hit 23 below zero, earning him the nickname "the human polar bear".〔 〕 In 1899, an Iowa woman filed for divorce from her husband because he had forced her to undergo ice baths. There has been a tradition in American football of pouring a large bucket of ice water on the winning coach as a victory celebration. And physical therapists have applied ice packs to selected areas of the body to prevent swelling. Until recently, however, bathing in ice was seen as unusual. One account suggested that ice bath therapy did not become popular until 2002, when marathon runner Paula Radcliffe won the championship in Europe and attributed her victory to its use.〔 She reportedly said "It's absolute agony, and I dread it, but it allows my body to recover so much more quickly."〔 She reported taking ice baths before racing and preferred her pre-race bath temperature to be "very cold."〔 After the Radcliffe comment, the technique has grown in popularity.〔 It is gaining in popularity among athletes,〔〔〔 such that some athletes "swear by it"〔〔〔 but other accounts suggest it may be a fad.〔〔 It has been used by athletes such as A. J. Soares〔 and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as well as other celebrity endorsers〔 and is getting to become "common practice" among athletes〔 from different sports, including American football, association football (soccer), long distance running,〔〔 rugby,〔 tennis, volleyball, and other sports. There was a report that sports equipment manufacturers are considering different designs for ice baths. In the summer of 2014, as a fundraising method, the nonprofit ALS Association, which raises money for research and public awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, began the Ice Bucket Challenge which involved donors filming themselves and challenging other donors to participate and then being doused with a bucket of ice cold water; as a fundraising effort, it raised $16 million over a 22 day period.〔 August 14, 2014, Campbell North, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, (People around the country have ALS challenge down cold ), Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "...Those who forgo the ice bath are asked to donate to an ALS organization..."〕〔 Bill Saporito, Aug. 18, 2014, Time magazine, (How the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Could Change Fundraising Forever ), Retrieved Aug. 18, 2014, "...Never mind the ice bath; you could have just written the check...."〕 There are indications that ice baths may be gaining popularity with groups outside sports, such as dance. The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' reported that some Radio City Rockettes, a precision dance company performing in New York City, use ice baths after a long day of performing as a way to "unwind" and cope with "aches and pains." One report suggested that entertainer Madonna used ice baths after her performances. And there are indications that use of ice baths is spreading to amateur sports, such as high school football. Ice baths are a part of a broader phenomenon known as cryotherapy––the Greek word ''cryo'' (κρυο) means ''cold''––which describes a variety of treatments when cold temperatures are used therapeutically. Cryotherapy includes procedures where a person is placed in a room with "cold, dry air at temperatures as low as −135 °C" for short periods of time, and which has been used in hospitals in Poland as well as a center in London to treat not only muscular ailments, but psychological problems such as depression.〔 Basketball player Manny Harris reportedly used a Cryon-X machine featuring extreme low temperatures around minus 166 degrees Fahrenheit, but used it with wet socks resulting in a serious freezer burn. Occasionally ice baths have been an ill-advised treatment of fever in young children, but that doctors were counseled not to use this technique because of the risk of hypothermia. Ice baths have been suggested as a way to prevent muscle soreness after shoveling snow.〔 In addition, there have been instances of ice bathing as an extreme bodily test by persons vying for an endurance record, such as Dutch ''Iceman'' Wim Hof,〔Joseph Angier, March 7, 2008, ABC News, (Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' ), Accessed April 14, 2014〕 and Chinese record-holders Chen Kecai〔BBC News, 4 January 2011, (Chilly Chinese compete for world ice bathing record ), Accessed April 14, 2014〕 and Jin Songhao. According to reports, doctors and scientists are studying how these people can spend an hour and a half submerged in an ice bath, and survive; for almost all humans, such tasks are impossible. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ice bath」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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