Cryotherapy No Longer Exclusive to Athletes and Celebrities

Prior to the 2018 NFL regular season, the Minnesota Vikings unveiled their brand new, state-of-the-art headquarters in Eagan, MN, known as the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center. Inside the facility is a little bit of everything, including one piece of equipment that continues to make waves in the wellness community: a cryotherapy chamber.

If world-class athletes are using this treatment, one that supercharges the traditional post-practice ice bath, doesn’t it make sense for regular folks to do so as well?

Dr. David Allingham, who offers cryotherapy treatment (CryoBodyDoc.com) right outside of Washington, D.C., believes so.

“It does lower inflammation,” Allingham says. “Inflammation causes aging and death in all of us, even if you don’t have chronic pain, even if you’re not an athlete. So, beating inflammation helps everyone.”

The treatment, in addition to the recovery side that athletes have popularized, has also been used for mental well-being, weight management, and chronic pain relief.

Many notable people have begun to lean on cryotherapy in recent years, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to a 2015 article by the Tech Times. Will Smith even documented a session on his Instagram account this past year.

That said, there are precautions that need to be taken, regardless if you’re a top-tier athlete, entertainer or just an average citizen.

Users, according to an article by the New York Times in 2011, should “remove all jewelry and don several pairs of gloves, a face mask, a woolly headband and dry socks” upon entry to protect from the sub-zero temperatures used in cryotherapy.

Without proper protection, you run the risk of frostbite, something Olympian Justin Gatlin dealt with after receiving treatment in wet socks before an event in 2011. This, of course, is an outlier but it goes to show you the power of the treatment.

As people continue to look for legal ways to improve life and performance, cryotherapy will only grow — both in settings like Allingham’s and behind the closed doors of professional sports franchises. Nothing is guaranteed, but the same can be said for meditation and other avenues people seek to get a leg up on their day-to-day existence. If that’s you or someone in your family, it won’t hurt to give it a shot…just make sure to wear dry socks.