Ice is considered to be best for acute injury and recovery from bouts of exercise routine. However, some of the effects that ice does on subjective and objective recoveries are;
1) DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness describing pain in muscle):- There is an evidence that Ice or cold immersion significantly reduced muscle soreness in 24 hours into recovery, and effects remains even after 48 hours of recovery.
2) Rate of Perceived Exertion RPE (Describes fatigue level in numbers):- In RPE, the significant reduction of exertion is noted only after 24th hour, which favored cooling compared to controlled environment.
3) Blood Plasma Markers and Blood Plasma Cytokines (Induces inflammation in muscle) :- There is no effects on these two inflammatory responses of the blood. This usually takes 96 hours for recovery.
To prevent the muscle soreness and RPE ice therapy (Cryotherapy) is useful tool, however for internal recovery it takes 96 hours.