How Painful is Cryotherapy?
Cryotherapy involves exposing the body to extremely cold temperatures for a short duration, typically a few minutes. While the idea of being in a cold
Ice baths have been around for thousands of years, while cryotherapy is relatively new in comparison.
People from the colder regions of our planet have long claimed the benefits of freezing temperatures on their bodies, and we fully agree. However, ice baths carry potential risks with themselves, especially if they’re done in an uncontrolled environment.
An ice bath is a bath filled with cold water and ice, typically used to aid in muscle recovery after exercise. Ice baths are deeply rooted in tradition and they can also be used as a form of physical therapy for injuries or chronic pain.
However, it carries the potential risk of hypothermia and skin injury if not monitored closely. Some individuals could mistakenly spend too long in an ice bath and expose themselves to fatal injuries.
Full body cryotherapy refers to the use of extremely low temperatures that have the potential to increase the speed of recovery, skin condition, and other beauty benefits. It is performed in specialized chambers where a person spends no more than 3 minutes.
There is also local cryotherapy, that focuses on a specified portion of your body. The treatment lasts longer than full body cryotherapy, 10-12 minutes. Both of these cryotherapy treatments can be equally beneficial. It all boils down to which one you prefer
The first and most obvious distinction between ice baths and whole body cryotherapy is the length of use. Cryotherapy takes 2-3 minutes, while an ice bath takes much longer. Soft tissue and muscles start to freeze and lose their ability after the first 20 minutes, making an ice bath a potential threat of drowning if a person doesn’t pay enough attention to the time spent inside the freezing water.
The amount of oxygen delivered to the skin’s surface during therapy is another distinction between ice baths and cryotherapy. In an ice bath, the oxygen supply to the skin and surface tissue is cut off, which can lead to skin injury and, if the process is repeated, skin disease.
Most importantly, cryotherapy has an exact temperature set, usually around -140°C. Once you exit the chamber after a max of 3 minutes, your body responds by releasing endorphins, and can also detoxify and break down harmful byproducts in your blood.
The biggest difference is probably the risk of frostbite with ice baths. Cryotherapy treatments can only be started once you wear protective clothing on your most sensitive areas like feet and ears. With an ice bath, the water gets everywhere around your body, and the longer you’re subjected to it, the more risk you’re exposed to.
Modern solutions that are extensively tested and controlled are always better than what came before them. Cryotherapy is in many ways similar to an ice bath, but at the end of the day, it’s an upgraded version of it.
Here are the top 3 reasons why cryotherapy is a superior solution:
Full-body cryotherapy takes only a fraction of the time compared to an ice bath. Let’s not forget that setting up an ice bath is a lengthy process as well. How long an ice bath should last is a topic of discussion. Some estimates go up to 20 minutes, while others say no more than 8 to 10 minutes.
The guidelines are not only vague, but every bath and every body will interact differently depending on the environment, the level of immersion, the actual temperature, and what the bath is made of.
Cryotherapy is superior to an ice bath because it can affect and relieve a wider network of muscles in a shorter span of time (3 minutes max). As a result, whole body cryotherapy has the potential to be even more effective and capable of properly exposing the complete body to low temperatures for the correct amount of time.
Cryotherapy is performed in a controlled environment with trained professionals monitoring the temperature and time spent inside. Since it is impossible to determine the exact temperature of an ice bath, it is nearly impossible to properly control.
You need to dry off after using an ice bath, which isn’t an easy feat most of the time. Compare that to simply stepping out of a cryogenic chamber, and it’s quite clear who is the winner.
If you want to focus on a specific part of your body with cold treatment, local cryotherapy makes perfect sense. Using ice instead is less beneficial, and you need to apply it for much longer periods of time to get the similar effects of cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy involves exposing the body to extremely cold temperatures for a short duration, typically a few minutes. While the idea of being in a cold
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