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Perhaps you’re used to placing ice packs on parts of your body to reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain from an injury. Maybe you’ve had a wart frozen off with liquid nitrogen.
You likely didn’t consider that those treatments use the same principle as cryotherapy, which applies extremely cold temperatures to aid in healing and relieve pain. Cryotherapy began in Japan as an innovative treatment for arthritis, inflammation, and muscle pain. It has since spread to Europe and the United States.
Here at White Integrated Health Clinics, we use CRYOFOS cryotherapy, or “cold therapy,” to help heal an injury, relieve muscle and joint pain, and improve your skin’s appearance.
Sports teams and chiropractors in many countries use cryotherapy to help patients recuperate from surgery, treat their musculoskeletal pain, and ameliorate other conditions.
For example, in the US, football teams such as the Denver Broncos, basketball teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and baseball teams like the Kansas City Royals have been using cryotherapy regularly to hasten their athletes’ recovery from injuries.
If cryotherapy is prescribed for your condition, the team at White Integrated Health Clinics, trained in the use of CRYOFOS cryotherapy, sprays the skin on the treatment area with medical CO2 gas from a specialized device. When crystals form on your skin’s surface, it’s at the correct treatment distance for optimal therapeutic response.
The handheld device is moved back and forth to cover the area being treated. The instrument delivering the treatment has an automatic shut-off safety feature that prevents it from emitting temperatures that are too cold.
The cold temperature puts your skin in a state of shock, and then your body’s own resources kick in to stimulate healing.
Dilates blood vessels
The very cold temperature causes an increase in your blood flow. Your capillaries, normally the smallest of your blood vessels, expand up to four times their normal size, helping your white blood cells reach your injury site faster, which speeds up your recovery time.
Reduces inflammation
CRYOFOS cryotherapy immediately suppresses enzymes that cause inflammation. Reducing inflammation helps your injury heal faster.
Relieves pain
Your handheld CRYOFOS cryotherapy treatment also functions as an analgesic; the procedure blocks certain pain receptors and relaxes muscles.
Cryotherapy is not yet considered a mainstream treatment for injury or pain, but its use is still widespread.
Here are some of the conditions that cryotherapy may treat:
Pain from inflammation and injury
Inflammation is associated with many major health conditions such as cancer and diabetes, and autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and fibromyalgia. Your immune system normally helps you fight infection, but in some people it goes into overdrive, actually helping to cause disease by attacking healthy tissue and even organs.
Studies suggest that cryotherapy reduces inflammation in animals. Anecdotal evidence from patients reinforces those previous findings.
Musculoskeletal pain from injury and overuse
Sports teams and chiropractors use cryotherapy to calm athletes’ muscle and joint pain that comes from overuse, stress and strain. Experts believe it may help athletic injuries heal faster.
With today’s modern technologies, you no longer have to suffer with acute pain, chronic pain from overuse, injury, or disease. Reach out to us at White Integrated Health Clinics for all of your musculoskeletal and regenerative medicine needs.
Arthritis/rheumatoid arthritis
Some studies indicate that cryotherapy eases discomfort from arthritis, helping patients move forward with physical therapy that might otherwise be more painful.
Call our Waterside office in Fort Worth, Texas, send the team a message here on our website, or use our convenient online booking feature.
