I occasionally get asked for my advice on the use of cold/ice for treatment of a number of different injuries and ailments and in my opinion I find using ice in the early stages of an injury does have its beneficial effects. Reducing the pain and limiting the swelling certainly seem to have been experienced by myself and others when using it.

However, there is much more to cryotherapy than just putting an ice pack on a ‘dodgy’ knee.

What is cryotherapy I hear you ask? Basically the use of cold temperatures to therapeutic effect.

I asked Lisa Barratt of local company Ice Chill Cryotherapy (www.ice-chill.co.uk) for some more information on what it is and what are the benefits.

There are different types of Cryotherapy 

• Cryo-surgery – for warts etc which burns and destroys the skin tissue

• Cryo cooling – which is anything below 0oC

• Cryo stimulation – this can only be achieved below -100C, alarming the brain into defence mode by using nitrogen vapours

• Fat freezing – it liquidises fat cells

Heat and cold do similar things to the body, we have around 50,000 heat receptors and 280,000 cold receptors which are mostly located in the legs, so approx. 6X the amount of cold to heat receptors.

Cryo stimulation can help with skin problems as they are generally inflamed, whereas heat can make skin problems worse.

Cryo stimulation calms inflammation and swelling.

The cold helps the blood vessels to open, inflicting better circulation, oxygenating the blood and collagen production.

Cryo stimulation helps reduce inflammation, boosts circulation, aids digestion, helps ease muscular pain and boosts metabolism.

A cryotherapy chamber is more tolerable than an ice bath or cold water swimming due to your body staying dry.

Benefits

• Pain reduction 
• Relieves migraine symptoms 
• Numbs nerve irritation
• Reduces anxiety, stress and depression 
• Releases endorphins and adrenaline 
• Reduces arthritic pain
• Eases Menopause symptoms
• Helps prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia 
• Increases blood flow and lower blood pressure 
• Treats skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea, acne, dermatitis, psoriasis 
• Boost immune system 
• Lessens oxidative stress
• Can burn 500-809 calories
• Increases metabolism and reduces appetite 
• Helps reverse aging
• Helps with arthritis and fibromyalgia pain
• Insomnia, chronic fatigue

to name just a few!!!

With cryo stimulation clients can use both before and after training/sports as it gives an energy boost, releasing endorphins and adrenaline and afterwards to ease sore muscles and promote a better sleep with no need for a recovery period   

The skin temperature reaches -1C in the chamber whereas in an ice bath it gets to 5C as the body is working really hard to keep warm.

There are contraindications to cryotherapy – such as severe raynaud’s, pacemaker fitted, very high blood pressure, using diabetic insulin, heart disease.

We will always discuss any health issues prior to using the chamber

Lisa

For more information on Cryotherapy visit www.ice-chill.co.uk or email Lisa on info@ice-chill.co.uk

Both myself and my wife have booked an appointment for a session in the cryotherapy chamber and will be reporting back on our experience shortly.

Thanks for reading.

Paul