Katherine Terrell describes the experience of cryotherapy as “feeling like my outer skin was turning to icicles.” She could only take 90 seconds of the subzero temperatures the first time, working her way up to a 3-minute session in the chamber.
“But then I felt great.”
Cryotherapy is a new, very intense twist on the ancient practice of taking a plunge into icy water to improve one’s circulation in particular and health in general. The big difference is the temperature.
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Instead of a freezing bath of ice water, the full-body chambers drop temperatures to minus 100 degrees centigrade or lower.
“Minus 35 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (for skin temperature) is the sweet spot listed in the clinical literature,” said Kevin Kramer, COO of USCryotherapy, the first company to build a center devoted to the practice. It launched four years ago in California.
“My outer skin was turning to icicles … (but afterward) I felt exhilarated, and I slept great that night.”
“It really works by shocking the system, by forcing the blood toward the core and then back out to the extremities. It has an anti-inflammatory effect.”
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Proponents also say it has a detoxifying effect,as well as releasing the “feel good” hormones known as endorphins.
Most of the customers at Kramer’s two company-owned centers and five franchises (seven more are underway) are sports enthusiasts who use cryotherapy to reduce muscle soreness, or to accelerate muscular healing and recovery. For similar reasons, professional athletes also use cryotherapy. The Cleveland Cavaliers are clients.
Cryotherapy got a cold blast of bad publicity last month when a Las Vegas spa employee was found frozen to death in a full-body chamber. That death, the only injury ever reported in the U.S. from cryotherapy, was ruled an accident. The employee was using the chamber after hours and without supervision, and was apparently deprived of oxygen due to a nitrogen leak.
That death will probably not change the lack of regulation for cryotherapy, which is now offered in hundreds of spas and clinics. As long as cryotherapy providers do not claim any medical benefits, the FDA does not regulate the practice, which involves entering a chamber where temperatures are brought down by liquid nitrogen or electrically cooled air. After 3 minutes or so of exposure, the client, who wears shorts, socks, ear muffs, and a breast cover for women, is warmed up again.
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“A lot of it has to do with the shock response from the extreme temperature drop and then the re-warming,” said Kramer. “You activate the central nervous system with a sudden response that draws blood into the core and then rushes it back out again. You feel energized, and the body’s mood elevators and pain responses kick in.”
Then there are the old-fashioned benefits of the ice bath, that time-honored tradition for athletes, sports teams and trainers. USCryotherapy makes a version of their cooling system that lets users blow icy air on just one sore area.
“It helps recovery from workouts, so a lot of CrossFitters, elite athletes, bicyclists, tri-athletes, weekend warriors, and student athletes incorporate it in their recovery routines,” Kramer said. “That makes up the majority of the (client) population. Other people find us for other things we don’t promote.”
Terrell told LifeZette she and her husband tried out cryotherapy because they read that motivational speaker Tony Robbins used it. Plus, they got a good deal from Groupon. Single sessions can cost $40 to $90, unless you buy them in bundles.
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“My husband and I are pretty active. We both surf and do yoga and work out in the gym, but we’re not on the cutting edge of sports recovery,” she said. “My husband’s motivation was to regenerate our cells.”
After several sessions, Terrell said she felt re-energized, “like the feeling you get from a roller coaster … When I got out, I felt exhilarated, and I slept great that night.”
Many cultures, including the Swedish and Russian, use the technique of alternating cold emersion and warming up, “so there must be something to it,” said Abdi Assadi, an acupuncturist and psychotherapist who treats high-end clients in New York.
“It does reduce inflammation, so there is less swelling and better recovery,” Assadi told LifeZette. “The cold makes sense on that level because you are removing the heat of inflammation. And all illness today is about inflammation.”
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