Does cryotherapy work? a question I had always wanted to find out the answer to, having read so many good things about this alternative treatment, so when a cryo lab opened up in my local area, I just had to try it out.
Having suffered chronic pain for the best part of ten years, I have tried various treatments and medications to get some relief. A lot of the pain I experience is from general tension from sitting at a desk all day, as well as years of putting my body through torture practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but the primary reason for my pain comes from an underlying autoimmune disorder.
I was diagnosed with plaque psoriasis about twenty-five years ago and have always had patches of red, itchy, scaly skin on my elbows, but patches would also pop up in various spots on my body, some more prominent and embarrassing than others. Along with the skin disorder, I also suffered from joint pain in my hands, elbows, knees and hips.
I have been under the care of a dermatologist for about ten years and around about six years ago, I was referred to a rheumatologist as the joint pain was getting worse. After examination and some full body scans, I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, which can often come hand in hand with plaque psoriasis, osteoarthritis and enthesitis, along with spondylitis and a general degeneration of the cervical spine due to age (it comes to us all).
To make matters worse, I suffered two cervical disc herniations in February 2016 which made the pain from spondylitis seem trivial in comparison. Since April 2016, I have also been under the care of a nero-surgeon. Between him, my rheumatologist, my dermatologist and a pain management specialist, I have tried dozens of medications and treatments to ease my pain, but unfortunately, I have not had much relief.
I have tried all of the usual non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen and naproxen, I have tried analgesics like paracetamol, opioid pain killers such as codeine, tramadol, morphine, I have tried tri-cyclic anti-depressants such as amitriptyline, doxepin, imipramine and I have also been given steroid and cortisone injections. Some of those medications didn’t have any effect, others like tramadol, had horrible side effects, whilst some, like morphine can only be given short term. When these treatments were unsuccessful, I was then treated with a number of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), leflunomide, sulphasalazine, methotrexate . Unfortunately these drugs were just too strong and began affecting my kidney function, so treatment had to stop.
On top of these medications, I have tried various complimentary treatments, acupuncture, massage, physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic treatment to try and manage the pain. These treatments had varied results, with chiropractic and acupuncture offering the least favourable results and massage therapy and physiotherapy offering the best results, albeit, short term relief and by short term, I mean, literally a day or two at most.
So that brings me on to cryotherapy of which I had heard great things and read and watched many positive reviews. Cryotherapy is a form of treatment that uses cold temperatures to therapeutic effect. It can be used locally on specific problem areas (spot cryotherapy), in a highly targeted way, or more generally across the whole body (cryochamber). Spot cryotherapy uses a handheld gadget to administer blasts of liquid nitrogen at extremely low temperatures to a particular area of the body. Whereas cryochamber therapy immerses your entire body (excluding the head) in extremely low temperatures for a few minutes.
Cryotherapy doesn’t come cheap at £35 per session for either 3 minutes in the chamber or 10 minutes of spot cryotherapy. Although there is a discount for blocks of four treatments at £100 or £25 each. Three minutes doesn’t seem like a very long time but any longer and you run the risk of being in danger as whole body cryotherapy causes decreased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and lowered respiration.
The alleged benefits of cryotherapy are many, here are just a few of them;
- Pain relief and muscle healing
- Reduce inflammation
- Weight loss – After a session of cryotherapy, your body burns calories in order to reheat the body. Approximately 500 to 800 calories are apparently burned after a 3 minute session.
- Relieve side effects associated with pregnancy, such as back pain, muscle spasms, and cramps.
- Improve skin conditions such as eczema
- Better sleep
- Increased energy levels
- Reduce the risk of dementia
- Prevent and treat cancer
The therapist who managed my sessions was very confident in the treatment and was convinced I would receive many of the purported benefits, ever the sceptic, I wasn’t convinced, but was happy to proceed with four sessions if all I got out of it was some slight pain relief. It was recommended that I have two treatments very close together for maximum benefit, so I booked in for Friday and the following Monday.
I am not so naive as to think that my disc herniations would be instantly healed from this treatment or that my psoriasis would suddenly clear up, but I was rather hoping to get some pain relief in my swollen joints and maybe some reduction in inflammation and neck and back tension.
The therapist was that convinced of the benefits that not only did she give me 3 minutes in the cryochamber for the price of one session, but she also gave me 10 minutes of spot cryotherapy on my neck and shoulders.
Having done the Wim Hof method course, my body was quite used to being in low temperatures, not quite as low as -180°C, but in fairness it is a different kind of cold; cold water, in my opinion is much more uncomfortable than cold gas.
The process is quite simple, strip down to your underwear, put on some thermal socks and gloves, to prevent frostbite to the extremities and enter the chamber. The door is then closed and a cover is stretched over your head, around your neck and over the top of the chamber to seal in the gas. The therapist stands outside the chamber and monitors the temperature whilst making small talk, presumably to take your mind off the extreme temperature. The sensation is not unpleasant, in fact it is quite pleasurable, kind of like that ‘nice’ pain you get from running your tongue over a blister in your mouth. There were some painful sensations in my elbows and forearms but not unbearable pain, but clearly noticeable. The therapist told me that this usually happens at the spots where inflammation is most prevalent. I’m not convinced of that but I don’t have any other explanation as to why it would only effect certain areas.
After three minutes in the chamber, I was then lead to a small room for spot therapy on my neck and shoulders. The process is very straightforward with the therapist using a small hand held gun type gadget to blow cold gas onto the area being treated. After around 3 minutes, I could literally feel the area going numb and any pain I had going into the room eased away. If only it would last, but sadly once the treatment was stopped and the area warmed up again, the pains were back.
But, this was only one session and I had paid for four, so perhaps I would feel some relief after three more sessions? Sadly, I didn’t. There was no pain relief, there was no improvement in my skin. I didn’t sleep better and I didn’t have any more energy than normal. What I can say, is that I did feel quite chilled out after the experience (excuse the pun) and very relaxed. Perhaps there was genuine therapeutic benefit to the treatment or perhaps it was that feeling of being fussed over and pampered a little bit that just made me feel relaxed? It is hard to say, but the experience didn’t leave me wanting more.
Every staff member was stunned that I hadn’t felt any relief from the treatment and they were all adamant that every single visitor had positive results. It seems I was the’ ‘only’ one who hadn’t. That obviously made me question my experience. Perhaps I was expecting too much from the treatment, how could everybody else get positive results and not me? maybe I was wrong? or maybe I was the only one who gave an honest opinion?
Maybe me being sceptical from the outset was to blame? Some people say that if you don’t believe that something will work and subsequently it doesnt work,having tried it, then it was because your belief wasn’t inline with the desired outcome. But if that were true then surely the opposite would be true? If you do believe in something and it does work out the way you would like then it has worked because your belief was inline with the desired outcome. But then the question arises? Has it worked or do you just believe it has? A placebo if you will.
So getting back to the opening question, does cryotherapy work? I would have to answer no, or at least it didn’t have any positive benefits for me after four sessions, whether I would have more positive effects after more sessions is not something I am prepared to spend more money on to find out. But as mentioned earlier, thousands of people have had positive results so you would really need to try it for yourself.
