Whole body cryotherapy: Ingenious or insane?

Tanja Reutelingsperger

This time of year, the temperature drops below zero and together with the bleak wind this results in a freezing cold winter. However, these temperatures are nothing compared to the temperatures people are voluntarily exposing themselves to in whole body cryotherapy (WBC). They even pay big bucks for three minutes in -110 degrees of Celsius in wellness centers. Is this something we should all try or should we leave these crazy colds up to Wim Hof, the Iceman?

Whole body cryotherapy, one could call it an inverted sauna treatment, is increasing in popularity. For several years now, whole body cryotherapy is being used as a treatment in sports medicine for, amongst others, recovery of exercise-induced muscle damage. WBC has shown to decrease creatine kinase activity by 40% in rugby players after five daily session of WBC. Moreover, it lowers the VAS score in physically active men after exercise compared to controls [1, 2]. Studies also show that WBC lowers disease activity and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in patients with inflammatory diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis [3, 4]. Furthermore, potential beneficial effects in patients with depression, tinnitus and fibromyalgia are mentioned [5, 6, 7].

However, a recent study could not reproduce the reducing effect of WBC on several inflammatory, hormonal or muscle damage biomarkers [8]. Also, a Cochrane review in 2016 pooled the results of four previous studies, with a total of 64 study subjects, and could not support the findings that WBC improves recovery or decreases muscle soreness after a workout [9].

But there is no harm in trying right? Well…, there could be. Of course, people with certain medical conditions as unstable angina pectoris, Raynaud disease or hypothyroidism are, because of their known responses to cold, not allowed entry to a cryotherapy cabine. But several adverse events have also been reported in healthy people ranging from cutaneous eruptions to transient global amnesia [10, 11]. The nitrogen vapors in the closed rooms can even result in loss of consciousness by depriving your brain of oxygen. Moreover, there is a lack of well-conducted studies on the possible adverse events of WBC. This is why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved or cleared WBC devices for medical treatment [12].

So, you probably might want to discuss starting WBC with your general physician before making an appointment. Or just use the miniature version of cryotherapy to treat your muscle soreness; the good old bag of frozen peas!