Cryotherapy

The Old vs The New

What we knew Cryotherapy for athletes

 After the body undergoes acute trauma, cryotherapy reduces  After an athlete has performed in a
our metabolic rate and causes vasoconstriction. Thus, limiting game they may have micro-tears in
the inflammatory response, diminishing proliferation rates, and their muscle, elongated sarcomeres,
decreasing any possible secondary injuries around the initial and acute trauma (bruises/cuts). In
injury site. turn they commonly use
cryotherapy’s theory of reducing
 Cryotherapy reduces our nerve conduction velocity, in turn intramuscular temperature to hinder
significantly increasing our pain threshold and pain tolerance. proliferation and decrease
secondary damages.

 New studies have shown that

What we are learning cryotherapy may play a new role in
myostatin and irisin levels. A study
 Susanna Soberg studied the effects of what cold water
from Sliwicka and Cison showed
swimming/dipping session could do for the human body. She
22 male volunteers who underwent
recruited young healthy men to undergo winter swimming/
3 minutes of cryotherapy for 10
dipping sessions 2-3 times a week; each session lasting at least
consecutive days showed a
45 minutes. She found a significant increase within the
significant decrease in myostatin.
participants brown adipose tissue, which she directly
correlated with improvement of regulation of sleep patterns.
Also, she found an increase in participants energy expenditures
and a new weight loss strategy.

 Dr. Andrew Huberman studied the effects of cooling the

arterial venous anastomoses within the hands, feet, and face.
He found cooling these areas is the most efficient way to cool
our thermoregulation system. After many studies, Huberman
labs found dropping our thermoregulation system improved
athletes’ performance, allowing them to run farther, lift more
weight, and perform more sets and reps.

 Cold Shock proteins are a response to a rapid temperature

downshift known as cold shock. Jonathan Lindquist and Peter
Mertens are currently finding evidence linking these proteins
to new ways of diagnosing and targeting cancers and other
inflammatory diseases.