Does Cryotherpay Offer Hype or Hope?

It seems like every time you turn around there is some new break-through natural therapy that makes bold claims of improving various health issues from touting anti-inlfammatory results to improving immunity among others. One of the most recent popular treatments is calls Cryotherapy. Have you heard of this? Of course, a lot of this popularity, comes in the form of good marketing over good science many times. If you haven’t heard about this type of therapy, the concept is relatively simple. You walk into a chamber with no clothes on, and they use liquid nitrogen to cool your body temperature down to anywhere from 60 degrees to 50 and lower. There are purportedly, a lot of benefit in doing this regular. And a lot of athletes swear by this therapy. Much like when athletes would soak in an ice bath after a game to relieve sore msucles and recover from the physical exertion.

So, is this therapy hype or hope? Well, thanks to the wellness mama, she breaks down the information you need to know if you are considering trying this therapy:

“Cryotherapy: Healthy or Hype?

Katie – Wellnes

“If you live in a big city or follow me on Instagram, you may have heard of Cryotherapy.

If you haven’t, it is essentially the process of using really low temperatures for medical therapy. This could mean something as simple as sitting in a cold tub or ice bath or using ice on a wound. Recently a new kind of cold therapy has emerged and it involves getting into a body-sized chamber up to your neck and having liquid nitrogen sprayed into the air to bring skin temperature down to below -200ºF.

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Sounds fun, right?

I didn’t think so either at first, but the benefits are intriguing and the Cryo-chamber (also called a Cryosauna) was much more bearable than an ice bath, in my opinion.

What is Cryotherapy?

Cryotherapy is essentially the process of using cold temperatures for their health benefits. This form of therapy has been used in different ways since the 1700s to decrease pain and muscle spasms, improve recovery, slow cell aging and improve health.

Athletes have been soaking in cold tubs and ice baths for decades, but recent innovation now allows for whole body cryotherapy (WBC) in a specialized chamber using liquid nitrogen and is the form most often referred to in modern references to Cryotherapy.

This type of cold therapy was invented in the 1970s in Japan, and has only come to the US and other countries in the last decade. It has gained widespread popularity with athletes and those with certain chronic illnesses (as well as housewives who don’t like ice baths *ahem*).

As you might imagine, this therapy has its share of claims to its benefits, as well as its fair share of skeptics and risks. So what is the real story? I decided to get down to -240ºF and investigate.

Benefits of Cryotherapy

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Articles about WBC claim that it can help with everything from minor inflammation to autoimmune disease and everything in between. It is important to note that Cryotherapy itself has been used in some form by the medical community for hundreds of years and is well documented.

Doctors often recommend icing an injured area to reduce inflammation. Cryoablation refers to a process of using extreme cold in a surgical setting to destroy diseased tissue, including cancer (this is also sometimes used for wart and mole removal). Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse recommends cold thermogenesis (ice baths) for regulating hormones and improving leptin levels (and thus leading to weight loss).

Any of these are essentially a form of “cryotherapy” but recent references more often refer to WBC or “cryosaunas,” which are fascinating but less well-researched. Tony Robbins claims to use a cryogenic tank daily as part of his daily routine and other celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon as well, but let’s look at the research.

Some of the benefits often attributed to cold therapy are:”

Before you continue reading from the wellness mama about the benefits and whether it is worth a try for you. Some things to keep in mind are that, this therapy technically isn’t new. It has been around in Asian counties as well as Europe since the 70’s. So, for the most part the safety efficacy which tends to be the biggest complaint from skeptics has little merit. As long as you get the treatment done somewhere where they know what they are doing, it shouldn’t be a problem. The second item to consider, is this type of therapy like most natural therapies is not covered by insurance and is relatively expensive making it available regularly to more of the upper middle class and up. But, what is new..Anyway, go ahead and finish the article over on the Wellness Mama website to get the rest of her evaluation. Just click the link below:

wellnessmama

Also, if you would like to see an actual cryotherapy session performed to get a better idea of how it looks to someone doing it in real time. Check out the video below:

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Photo By CryoVigorCryotherapy