Cryotherapy is the practice of exposing your body to very cold temperatures, such as an ice bath, a cold shower, or a cryo-chamber (an enclosed device that exposes the body to extremely cold air cooled by Nitrogen). Some forms of cryotherapy have been practiced for centuries in various cultures around the world, and research suggests it may have therapeutic benefits for athletes both pre- and post-training.
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Brian George is a performance recovery specialist with Mass General Brigham. According to Brian, "Here at the Center for Sports Performance and Research, we recognize that elite athletes are looking to harness the power of cryotherapy to gain a competitive edge before an important competition, boost their energy before an intense workout, or speed their recovery and reduce inflammation after strenuous activity. Our cryotherapy facility is clean, spacious, and professionally managed. It's a convenient place to try cryo for the first time, or to commit to integrating the therapy into your regular recovery practices.”
Cryotherapy is not recommended as a medical treatment, but rather as a tool to aid athletic recovery. This offering is supervised and recommended to some athletes based on individual needs and goals, considering overall health and wellness history.
The formal study of cryotherapy, especially whole-body cryotherapy using nitrogen-cooled air, is a relatively new field. However, available evidence indicates that cryotherapy may have benefits for athletes, including:
Cryotherapy for athletes usually takes one of two forms: selective submergence in ice baths, or whole-body cryotherapy using a device called a cryo-chamber that exposes the athlete to extremely cold air (as cold as -200 degrees Fahrenheit).
In response to extreme cold, the body performs an "emergency reaction" to accelerate blood flow to the core to maintain optimal temperature. This reaction also activates the sympathetic nervous system, changing hormone and neurotransmitter levels. After leaving the cold environment, blood flows back to the limbs and other peripheral areas, bringing a rich supply of resources prepared by the body to combat the "emergency" situation.
Cryotherapy for athletes works, at least in part, by activating a stress response. As a result, it can be an intense experience. It may be contraindicated for those with heart problems, especially in the extreme temperatures of whole-body cryotherapy. Ice baths and cold-water immersion use less extreme temperatures, allowing people to gradually build their resistance to the cold to lessen the shock.
In some cases, the intense cold of cryotherapy can cause a drop in blood pressure, leading to dizziness and fainting. “Because of the extreme cold involved, cryotherapy can be a shock to the system,” George warns. “A cryotherapy chamber leverages the latest in recovery technology to allow supervised monitoring of users’ physiological response to the therapy, including extremely precise temperature control. To maximize safety, cryotherapy should only be applied in controlled and supervised environments like the one we provide at the Center for Sports Performance and Research.”
Extreme cold exposure that lasts too long can cause tissue damage. That may be more of a problem for ice baths and cold-water immersion, where people may spend more time in the cold, than for whole-body cryotherapy, where sessions are strictly timed due to the extreme temperatures involved.
Cryotherapy is an umbrella term for any wellness or medical treatment that uses freezing or near freezing cold temperatures. Also called cold therapy, it includes using ice, cold water, or cold air.
For centuries, people have used cold temperatures for overall health, to treat injuries, and to recover from sports. The use of cryotherapy can be traced as far back as ancient Greece. In , Japanese professor Toshio Yamauchi designed the first cryosauna.
Whole-body cryotherapy
In recent years, whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) has gained popularity as a wellness hack for physical and mental well-being. WBC is a kind of cryogenic therapy where you expose your body to very cold temperatures for a short time.
The theory behind WBC is that the extreme cold helps reduce inflammation in your body and reduces your pain or other symptoms. Supporters of the treatment argue that it works the same way as using ice application to ease swelling.
Unlike cryotherapy for medical treatments such as wart removal, whole-body cryotherapy for physical or mental wellness is not well researched. And the FDA has not approved WBC to treat any medical conditions or for post-exercise recovery.
Athletes who use cryotherapy to improve sports performance may refer to it as cryostimulation. This can include both whole-body cryotherapy and cold-water immersion. It’s unclear whether pre-exercise WBC can improve physical performance.
Medical cryotherapy
Medical cryotherapy is any cold treatment used for medical purposes to treat or manage health conditions. Medical cryotherapy treatments are backed by science. They have gone through rigorous clinical trials to determine their safety and efficacy and are cleared by the FDA for use as medical therapies. Cryotherapy treatments used for medical purposes are administered by doctors or other health care providers.
Cryotherapy used for therapeutic wellness is not a medical treatment to treat or manage a health condition. Cryotherapy treatments you get at a spa or gym are not FDA-approved to treat or manage physical or mental health conditions.
It’s unclear exactly how cryotherapy works to reduce joint and muscle pain, soreness, and swelling. In theory, cold therapy reduces nerve conduction – the electrical signals, including pain signals, that travel through our nerves. It appears to lower levels of inflammation and oxidative stress.
Cold therapy is thought to stimulate your sympathetic nervous system, your body’s flight or fight response, causing a release of noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter and hormone that’s been shown to reduce pain signals in studies done on animals.
Several studies have found cryotherapy lowered oxidative stress. It also lowered inflammation by reducing the production and release of pro-inflammatory substances while increasing the production and release of anti-inflammatory substances.
Exposing the skin and muscle to cold causes your blood vessels to constrict and lower peripheral blood flow, which may help decrease inflammation and swelling after an injury or exercise. Cold exposure may also lower enzyme activity and metabolism.
It’s difficult to test whether cryotherapy works or whether there’s a bias or placebo effect. Unlike testing to see whether a drug works where study participants are blinded -- meaning they don’t know whether they've been given the active drug or a placebo pill -- it’s not possible to blind study participants in cryotherapy studies. They know they are getting the active treatment.
Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC)
Whole-body cryotherapy is not a medical treatment. You don’t need a doctor to prescribe it for you. You can get WBC at gyms, spas, and wellness centers. But keep in mind it isn't an FDA-approved treatment for any condition.
Places that offer cryotherapy have special rooms, tanks, or chambers that are cooled to extremely low temperatures. They may be as cold as -200 to -300 degrees Fahrenheit. You will stand in the cooled space for 2 to 4 minutes. After the treatment, some cryotherapy centers give you a robe or hot beverage to warm up.
Most tanks are shoulder height. Your head usually stays at room temperature, but some tanks enclose your entire body. Some cryotherapy chambers fit two or more people so you can book a session with friends or family.
You need to wear protective coverings on your hands, feet, and ears. A disposable mask protects your mouth and nose. Most people only wear underwear and sports bras in addition to these. Underwire bras are not allowed in cryotherapy enclosures because the metal can freeze and burn your skin.
Cold water immersion (CWI)
Cold water immersion dates back to ancient times, too. Hippocrates believed swimming in cold water could restore physical and mental energy. Thomas Jefferson soaked his feet in cold water every morning to "maintain his good health."
Today, cold water immersion, including cold water plunges, winter swims, and ice baths, have gained popularity for overall well-being. CWI is a popular way to recover after sports or exercise. Many pro athletes use CWI, believing it reduces muscle stiffness and fatigue and decreases exercise-induced muscle damage after sports performance or high-intensity workouts.
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Whether cold water immersion can have benefits to physical and mental health is an ongoing debate. More studies are needed to prove these benefits.
An analysis of 28 studies on how CWI affects recovery after strenuous exercise found it is better than other recovery methods, including active recovery and warm water therapy, to recover from muscle soreness and perceived recovery. But whole-body cryotherapy in cryogenic chambers was more effective than CWI for muscle strength recovery.
Another analysis of 52 studies found CWI was effective at reducing delayed-onset muscle soreness 24 hours after high intensity exercise. It also improved perception of recovery. Both groups of studies stress the need for more research before drawing conclusions on whether CWI can improve athletic performance and recovery.
The risks of CWI include hypothermia and heart and lung problems.
Ice application
Doctors have long used traditional cryotherapy -- the use of ice bags or gel packs -- to reduce pain and swelling following surgery, injury, or trauma. Medical applications include:
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery has been around since the s. It is any treatment that uses extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen or argon gas to freeze off or destroy abnormal tissue. As a local treatment, cryosurgery is directed toward a specific part of your body. As it freezes tissue, cryosurgery causes cells in the treated area to die. Cryoablation is another name for cryosurgery.
Dermatologists have long used cryosurgery to remove benign or precancerous skin lesions, including:
Cancer doctors use cryosurgery to treat tumors on the skin and certain visible tumors inside the body. These include:
Research has shown that whole-body cryotherapy may help in the treatment or management of:
For several of these conditions, the studies showed benefits only after several rounds of WBC, not just after one use. And studies on how cryotherapy affects these and other medical conditions are still ongoing. More research is needed to determine how and whether WBC actually works for these conditions and how often you would need to do it to achieve benefits. The FDA has not approved whole-body cryotherapy or cold-water immersion to treat any medical condition.
The manufacturers of cryotherapy tanks and businesses that offer the service claim whole-body cryotherapy can help with many health issues. Cryotherapy is marketed to suggest it can improve symptoms of:
Some supporters of the therapy say that it can help with weight loss and insomnia. Others claim it can improve your circulation, boost your metabolism, and ease pain after a workout.
Is whole-body cryotherapy effective?
The FDA has not tested any of the medical claims about whole-body cryotherapy and warns people to use caution when trying it. The agency has not approved the tanks as a treatment for any health conditions.
The FDA looked at a few studies on the effects of whole-body cryotherapy. It decided that they don't show real evidence of the therapy helping with any medical conditions.
Other studies show that whole-body cryotherapy might help with pain from sports injuries. Cryotherapy might help with the following issues:
Inflammation. Cryotherapy can bring your skin and muscle temperature down. This may help with pain and swelling. The effect is similar to using ice packs.
Recovery from exercise. Cryotherapy may reduce soreness after a workout. It does not seem to improve exercise performance for your next workout. Nor does it reduce the amount of muscle damage caused by intense exercise.
Joint conditions. Cryotherapy might be helpful for a frozen shoulder. This is a condition where your shoulder locks up and won't move.
You should talk to your doctor if you are considering whole-body cryotherapy. Extreme cold has risks for everyone. If you have underlying medical conditions, the treatment may not be safe for you.
Reported risks of whole-body cryotherapy are rare but include:
Who should avoid WBC?
In general, you should avoid WBC if you have:
The extreme cold may also aggravate your other health conditions, including:
There may be other health conditions where it’s not safe for you to use WBC. Don’t do WBC if you're pregnant. If you're interested in WBC, talk to your doctor first to make sure it's safe for you.
Cryotherapy, or cold therapy, is any wellness or medical treatment that uses extremely cold temperatures. Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) has become popular in recent years as a hack for physical and mental wellness. While medical uses of cryotherapy, such as to remove warts or skin cancer, are FDA-approved, WBC is not FDA-approved to treat any medical condition. If you are considering WBC, talk to your doctor first to make sure it’s safe for you.
What are the negatives of cryotherapy?
The negatives of cryotherapy depend on the type. Risks of whole-body cryotherapy are rare, but skin injuries are the most common side effect.
Who should not do whole-body cryotherapy?
You may have a preexisting or untreated condition that can increase your risk of serious complications from WBC. Talk to your doctor before doing whole-body cryotherapy to make sure it's safe for you
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