Time Is on the Side of Cryotherapy

Suzanne Rich, Director Sales and Strategic Partnerships, CRYO Science North America

More people today are focused on pursuing healthy lifestyles with the goal of feeling their best. To that end, some are turning to cold treatments for recovery. Ice baths have been around for years, but cryotherapy is another option gaining acceptance.?

Ice baths or “cold water immersion has become popular among sportsmen and women to cool strained muscles in order to recover faster, compete again sooner and to train harder,” according to a?Nov. 14, 2017, article by Medical Xpress.?

This age-old solution was the treatment of choice until the advent of cryotherapy. Some elite athletes and coaches have called cryotherapy “a step forward, a superior treatment,” according to the Medical Xpress article.?

Cryotherapy uses cold air exposure (dry, cold nitrogen gas at temperatures below -100°C / -148°F) for between two and four minutes (compared to 10 to 20 minutes in an ice bath) in a specialized cold air chamber.?

Some cryotherapy users say that the advantage that it has over an ice bath is that it’s easier, quicker and less likely to damage the skin, as long as the user is dressed appropriately. The difference in treatment time between cryotherapy and ice baths is key since both treatments offer a “similar recovery” for sore muscles, according to a?University of Applied Science and Arts of Southern Switzerland?study that was the first to compare the two treatments.?

Moreover, cryotherapy has been shown to have longer-lasting effects as it can “kick start” the body’s natural healing processes, according to an article, “Cryotherapy VS Ice Bath,” posted by Crowpeak Cryotherapy in 2019.?

“The idea is that whole-body cryotherapy reduces the inflammatory process to allow the muscles to recover more quickly and enhance … training quality and return to fitness,” according to?Dr Geoffrey Minett?from QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, who reviewed research on cryotherapy.?

Cryotherapy, with its lower temperatures, stimulates the body’s systems to monitor themselves, sending blood to help repair parts of the body that hurt or are inflamed.?

“It’s conceivable that cryotherapy might one day replace cold water immersion. However, more research is needed to establish the optimal cooling dose,” said?Dr Erich Hohenauer at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, one of the authors of a study comparing cryotherapy with ice baths.?

In addition, ice baths are often recommended as a post-workout treatment rather than a pre-workout treatment because the body needs about 24 hours after an ice bath to “thaw” before exercise.?

After cryotherapy, exercise can be resumed immediately. Many users like to work out after a cryotherapy session because the body is energized and wide awake.

The fans of cryotherapy grow every day as more and more people, including celebrities and athletes such as Mark Wahlberg, Lebron James, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and others, espouse it as a method to improve their health and well-being and assist in post-training recovery. Offering whole-body cryotherapy as a post-training recovery option to increase blood flow, remove toxins and energize the user can be a source of ancillary revenue for your facility. Head to your nearest cryotherapy treatment center to try it for yourself.??