Benefits Of Whole Body Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy improves acute recovery during high-intensity intermittent exercise in thermoneutral conditions. In 2014, a systematic review and meta-analysis pooled together results from 6 studies, which analyzed a total of 257 RA patients.7 Results showed that cryotherapy was associated with a significant decrease in the pain visual analogic scale and 28-joint disease activity score.
For whole-body cryotherapy, the premise is that being in the chamber reduces your whole body temperature, and ''as you get out of the chamber, What is cryotherapy it sends all this supercharged or oxygenated blood outward, providing an improved state of healing or recovery,” Juneau says.
The chamber is cooled to subzero temperatures (typically between -100 and -140 degrees Celsius ) by liquid nitrogen, and patients step inside wearing almost no clothing (gloves, socks, and sometimes a headband to cover the ears and a mask to cover the nose and mouth).
Case in point: Europe's only cryotherapy rooms at the Thermes-Marins Monte Carlo Cryotherapy is the use of extremely low temperatures to treat symptoms such as tissue damage (it's excellent for athletes), decrease inflammation, increase cell rejuvenation, improve skin tone and reduce signs of aging.
If Whole Body Cryotherapy is done in a protocol to elevate and maintain a higher basal metabolic rate and this is done in conjunction with a thermogenic diet plan and supportive supplements, consistent fat loss of 1-2 pounds per week can be expected.
A clinical trial report, for instance, published in Complementary Therapies In Medicine says: Our aim was to determine whether whole-body Cryotherapy only can result in improved perceived health and quality of life in fibromyalgia patients.” Ten sessions of Cryotherapy were administered to a randomized group for a period of eight days, after which patients reported significantly improved quality of life”.
Cryotherapy facials are becoming very popular these days, where a stream of nitrogen is directed at the skin on the face to constrict blood vessels, reduce puffiness and appearances of of bloating caused by late nights, long-haul flights, overindulging in alcohol and spicy foods etc.
Various forms of cryotherapy (e.g. cryosurgery and localized) are used in clinical settings for various conditions, such as the treatment of skin conditions (e.g. removal of warts, skin tags, benign cancer, etc.) and relieving localized pain in muscles and joints in patients with chronic conditions.
Humans have been using cold to treat injuries for centuries—the origins of the treatment can be traced back at least as far as the Egyptians in 2500 BCE By the mid-1800s, doctors were beginning to use localized forms of cryotherapy (cold packs filled with a solution of crushed ice and salt) to treat breast, cervical, and skin cancers Modern cryotherapy techniques began to take shape in the 1960s; and by the 1970s, medical cryotherapy had become a staple of dermatological practices, where doctors use the technology, sometimes called "cryosurgery," to remove warts and some kinds of cancerous cells.
Following this review, a comprehensive gold standard” Cochrane systematic literature review was conducted in 2015 by Costello and colleagues.15 The review assessed the effects (benefits and harms) of WBC for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise in adults and focused on randomized trials comparing different durations or dosages of WBC with primary outcomes being muscle soreness, subjective recovery (e.g. tiredness, well-being), and adverse effects.
When it comes to your first whole-body session, it can be a bit intimidating wondering just how cold it is going to be. Pendleton offers reassurance that the length of the session is sufficient to trigger the cardiovascular response that yields benefits without being something that you can't handle.