Sunny at -250 degrees. Photo: Honolulu Cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy is catching the attention of the world’s top athletes. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. all swear by the treatment. The Los Angeles Lakers recently made a team visit to a cryotherapy facility in Sacramento, and the Phoenix Suns have already invested in their own cryotherapy equipment. Clearly, the treatment is catching on in a big way.
In case you haven’t heard, cryotherapy is a relatively new treatment designed to reduce inflammation, break up lactic acid, and stimulate a nervous system response. How does it work? Many treatment options utilize a two part system. In the first step, you step into a machine that comes up to approximately neck height. The machine blasts the body with freezing vapors for about 30 seconds. Next, you step into an even colder chamber that submerges the body in temperatures over 180 degrees below zero Celsius. This second component typically lasts about 2-3 minutes. During this time, the body drops an average of 35-40 degrees. It takes 10 minutes of moderate cardio to warm the body back up to normal temperatures. Oftentimes, even when the superficial parts of the body (the skin and fat layers) return to normal temperature, the deep muscles remain chilled long after.
Athletes report that the treatment can work wonders for treating chronic pain and helping injuries heal, and there are a number of purported benefits. In addition to reducing swelling and inflammation (much like an ice bath), the dramatic nervous system response after the temperature shock stimulates nerve fibers. These fibers signal blood vessels in the muscles to contract. This slows down muscle metabolism, which could theoretically reduce the effects of overuse. Additionally, as the body enters a state of survival mode, blood is redirected to the vital organs. When the body returns to normal temperature, the blood that rushes to return to the muscles is devoid of toxins and enriched with nutrients.
Another form of the treatment is more targeted. Rather than exposing the entire body to the extreme cold, a machine is used to direct the flow of cold air (typically 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) at one specific muscle area. This may be used to ease pain in an injured or overused area. Targeted treatment providers often describe this style as “the evolution of the ice pack.” The goal of this type of treatment is to reduce pain and increase the capacity for healing of one, problematic muscle region.
The surprising thing about cryotherapy is that even though top athletes swear by it, there is very little scientific evidence to back up the benefits. Athletes have been utilizing cold and ice baths for years to treat injuries and prevent muscle soreness after a difficult workout. However, little proof exists that cold is even beneficial for injuries. In fact, some scientists believe that swelling plays a vital role in the healing process. It’s difficult to know whether these benefits do not exist, or whether there simply has not been enough research performed to demonstrate them.
What research has demonstrated is the powerful placebo effect/mental edge that cryotherapy offers. The treatment is such an extreme measure that it shocks and stimulates the body and mind. Although cryotherapy may or may not offer all the listed additional benefits, the athlete perceives the treatment as beneficial, and this gives the individual an edge when it comes to performing and ignoring pain.
Despite its popularity in mainstream sports, cryotherapy has only begun to be used by action sports athletes. Sunny Garcia is one of the first names to be tied to the therapy, and recently Honolulu Cryotherapy released photos showing the pro surfer and triathlete using their facilities. It’s hard to say whether or not the therapy will catch on in the surf sphere, but if Sunny is doing it, I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple others tested the waters. Especially since avid surfers experience an abundance of chronic aches and pains, it’s entirely possible that the therapy could take off in the surfing community.
Only time will tell whether cryotherapy is just another health fad, or if it is an effective therapy for sports medicine. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how action sports accept or reject this style of treatment.
