Athletes often turn to ice packs to treat pain and swelling from sports injuries, but many other people use a variation of this treatment. The term cryotherapy refers to the application of cold temperatures to various parts of the body. The practice goes back to 19th century London where people applied extremely low temperatures to body tissues in order to prepare them for surgical removal. In recent years, whole body cryotherapy has been developing, and in 2009, Cryohealthcare Inc. became one of the first companies to introduce cryotherapy to America.
Whole body therapy is currently available in the general market via Cryohealthcare Inc. centers. The therapy involves the administration of cold temperatures through two different machines: the Cryochamber and the Cryosauna. The Cryochamber is a large room that can fit up to three individuals while the Cryosauna is a single person chamber in which the individual is submerged in liquid nitrogen fumes from below the neck. The chambers are cooled down to temperatures between -200°F and -240°F, and clients are typically in the chamber for around 1.5-3 minutes. Cryohealthcare claims that some of the benefits of cryotherapy include alleviating muscle injury and pain, improving skin health, aiding surgery recovery, promoting overall well-being, and increasing athletic performance.
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There isn’t much information available about how cryotherapy affects general well-being. However, a study examined the effects of cryotherapy on participants suffering from sprained ankles. Individuals were separated into groups based on degree of injury. Each group was either given cryotherapy or heat therapy for 15 minutes, 1 to 3 times a day for three days at various hours after the injury. The results indicated that if cryotherapy was administered within 36 hours of the injury, individuals recovered full use of their ankle in fewer days. Overall, cryotherapy at the right time resulted in a more rapid and thorough recovery than the use of heat therapy.
So is cryotherapy one of those health fads that come and go, or can it really benefit individuals? For around $65 for a single cryotherapy treatment, you probably want some guarantee of its effectiveness. It is hard to say whether cryotherapy has a significant effect on improving the overall wellness of an individual, but it does appear to have the potential to alleviate pain and injury if applied in a timely manner. Only time will tell if this treatment will be here to stay, but as we learn more about the effects of cryotherapy, we may be looking forward to a pretty chilly future!
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