Cryotherapy: Can it stop your pain cold?

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling Let’s say you’ve started working out at the gym and you’re wondering what you can do for your aching muscles. How does this sound? Put on a pair of gloves, shoes, socks, and a protective headband to cover your ears and face — but wear little else. Then step into a cold room for three to four minutes. By “cold” I mean really cold: between −100° C and −140° C (which is −148° F to −220° F)! If that sounds good to you (really?), you may already be using whole body cryotherapy (WBC). And if it sounds terrible to you (or just strange), perhaps you haven’t heard of this increasingly popular “treatment” for sports injuries and a host of other conditions. It’s become even more popular in recent years as celebrities and professional athletes have embraced it. (I’m going to resist the temptation to namedrop here… okay, just a few: Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Aniston, and LeBron James reportedly engage in WBC. If you feel compelled, you can Google “cryotherapy celebrities” to find out about others). The idea comes from the simple observation that applying ice or other types of cryotherapy (cold treatment) can provide pain relief for inflamed, injured, or overused muscles. Another version of cryotherapy is to soak a sore area (such as an arm or leg) or the entire body in cold water (called cold water immersion, or CWI). The claimed benefit of whole body cryotherapy According to websites promoting whole body cryothe...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Health Source Type: blogs