Whether you are a weekend warrior or rolling with the pros, recovery is an essential component of training and competition that is often overlooked. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts accept achy joints and muscles as an integral part of physical activity. But ignoring pain and failing to treat it can set you up for more serious injury and reduced performance.
What Cryo Does
If you are an athlete, you are no doubt familiar with the acronym RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for treating soft tissue injuries. Cryotherapy, the Ice in RICE, is perhaps the most effective treatment for inflamed joints, overworked muscles, and soft tissue injuries. It has been shown to relieve pain, reduce swelling, speed recovery, and help heal injured tissue.
Cryotherapy is good for:
- Sports injury
- Training recovery
- Recovery from surgery
- Chronic localized pain
- As a part of your physical therapy treatment protocol
How Cryo Works
The benefits of cryotherapy begin immediately as your capillaries respond to cold by constricting, shunting fluid away from the injury site to reduce swelling, which in turn relieves pain. At the same time, the freezing temperature has a numbing effect on irritated nervous tissue, further alleviating pain and discomfort. As the site warms again, oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood returns to begin the healing process.
Several cryotherapy treatments over the course of several days will yield the best results for treating a specific injury. You can use cryotherapy treatment intermittently throughout the course of your recovery.
Cryotherapy Options
You may cringe at the idea of an ice bath, but what if you could receive the same benefits in a shorter time without the discomfort of soaking in ice water? At Advanced Cryo NYC, we take the cry out of Cryo by using new technology that employs liquid nitrogen to create a quick and painless drop in temperature for a few short minutes of exposure. You can opt for localized treatment, which uses a wand-like devise to deliver cryotherapy to a specific site, or whole body cryotherapy (WBC) that uses a special chamber to surround your entire body with healing coldness.
Cryotherapy is affordable, effective, and only takes a few short minutes to achieve the same results as a long soak in an ice bath. Making recovery a priority in your training regimen will help you perform better, longer, with less risk of injury. Cryotherapy is a recovery strategy that should not be overlooked.
