Changes in S-IgA Level following Intensive Exercise and Immersion in Hot and Cold Water

Intensive physical exercise influences physical and psychological stress which in turn causes hormonal and immune variations. This study assessed the effect of three water immersion methods on salivary immunoglobulin A (S-IgA), heart rate (HR) and fatigue.

In this study 10 elite female swimmers with at least 3 years of athletic experience (aged 17.8 ± 2.2 years) were selected through convenient purposeful sampling. On 3 different days with 48-hour intervals, they performed a 100-meter front crawl. They then completed a 15-minute recovery method contrast water therapy (CWT) (2 minutes in hot (40ºC) water and 1 minute in cold (23ºC) water), cold water (23ºC) immersion (CWI), or hot water (40ºC) immersion (HWI). S-IgA levels and HR were recorded before and after the test and also after the recovery. The effects of each recovery method on fatigue were evaluated by a questionnaire. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the collected data.

The results showed that S-IgA levels increased after recovery methods. In addition, a significant difference was observed between HWI and CWI (19% vs. 8.9%) in terms of S-IgA levels. HR decreased significantly following CWI compared with HWI.

Generally, CWI reduced fatigue and increased muscle relaxation. HWI can increase S-IgA secretion. It can thus improve quality of recovery and is suggested after the sprint swimming.