Cryotherapy

What is cryotherapy?

Cryotherapy is the medical term for cold therapy. It’s a procedure that involves exposing your body to low-temperature levels for 2-4 minutes in order to get the benefits of cold therapy very quickly. At River Oaks Chiropractic Clinic, the team discusses cryotherapy as an option for relief of pain and inflammation and determines if you’re a candidate for the treatment.

Cryotherapy is not recommended for people with uncontrolled high blood pressure, poor circulation, allergy symptoms that are triggered by cold temperatures, or neuropathy in the feet or legs.

What are the benefits of cryotherapy?

Current research suggests that cryotherapy can be beneficial in many ways, including:

• Relieving muscle and joint pain
• Reducing inflammation
• Decreasing muscle soreness after exercise
• Improving your skin’s appearance

While cryotherapy is not used to treat any specific conditions, it can be a complementary therapy to support your other treatments at River Oaks Chiropractic Clinic.

How does cryotherapy work?

Cryotherapy uses extremely low temperatures — sometimes down to minus 200 Fahrenheit — to quickly cool the surface layers of your skin. This signals the pain and temperature receptors in your skin to trigger various brain responses, like decreasing pain and inflammation.

Depending on your condition, the team could recommend one or more sessions of cryotherapy. If your skin becomes irritated after your session, it’s best to wait a week or more in between sessions to allow your skin to recover from the extreme cold used during your visit.

What should I expect when getting cryotherapy?

When you arrive for cryotherapy, the team has you change into a bathing suit or undress to your undergarments in a private room before beginning your session. The team may provide ear muffs, goggles, or gloves to protect sensitive areas during your treatment and you’ll wear a robe for modesty when getting into and out of the cryotherapy chamber.

Once you step into the chamber — which is similar in size to a dressing room — you’ll remove your robe and let your attendant know when you’re ready to begin. Your attendant then turns on the cryotherapy equipment to emit cold air for 2-4 minutes. If you need to stop at any point, let your attendant know.

It’s common to experiencing shivering during your session. After your session, you can put your robe back on and return to the changing area to get dressed.

To schedule a cryotherapy visit at River Oaks Chiropractic Clinic, call or book online now.