A new type of elite sports therapy may be helping people who have encountered injuries or experience pain during or following physical activities heal quicker and feel better faster. In fact, the treatment option is becoming one of the most popular treatments in sports physiotherapy Toronto based clinics, thanks to its ability to provide both prompt and long lasting relief. So, what is this effective elite sports therapy option? It’s known as Whole Body Cryotherapy. It’s a cold based solution that can help to freeze discomfort away in many different ways.
As long as sports have been around, so have injuries related to participating in them. Football, basketball and soccer injuries are not uncommon, and in these sports that involve long periods of running and high activity levels – arm, hand, wrist, foot, ankle and leg muscle pain is not abnormal. Sometimes, the discomfort is related to a specific injury, while other times it might be related to overuse or simple strain. But regardless of the sport involved, cold therapy has long been an acceptable form of treatment. Most commonly, this comes in the form of an ice pack (or, even a bag of frozen vegetables). But there are other methods used to treat everything from serious basketball injuries to sprained ankles including gas containing inflatable sprints, vapocoolants, ice massages and even chemical reaction devices. Why are there so many different types of cold therapy options available to people suffering from sports injuries? Well, it’s because it’s been proven to be very effective. And Whole Body Cryotherapy, the next big thing in elite sports therapy, harnesses all of the benefits of cold treatment for short and long term pain relief.
Whole Body Cryotherapy may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, and in some ways it really is. It involves the use of either a room or chamber (chambers are much more common) where either the head is left exposed and protective garments for sensitive areas used or the garments are used alone while the rest of the body is treated. In either case, either liquid nitrogen (again, the most common and used by Cryotherapy Health and Wellness Inc) or super cooled compressed air is distributed around the affected individual for a period of time that is short enough to not cause damage but also long enough to externally cool the skin’s outer layers, which is key to the process’s effectiveness. What this particular type of elite sports therapy does is provide both healing and pain relief in numerous ways.
The first way that cryotherapy cold sauna provides pain relief is by immediately reducing the pain that nerve receptors transmit to the brain. Just as an ice pack can help numb a specific region of the body and make it feel less painful temporarily by chilling the ends of sensitive nerves, Whole Body Cryotherapy works externally in the same way. This effect may not last longer than 6 hours after your very first visit, but can be soothing and gratifying while it is present.
The second way in which cryotherapy can help reduce pain is by prompting the body to release a wealth of “feel good” natural chemicals like endorphins that can help naturally reduce the sensation of pain. This is an incredibly important part of this elite sports therapy because although these chemical reactions only last a little while, the after-effects can actually endure to some degree for weeks on end.
Lastly, long term healing may be possible with the deep freeze based elite sports therapy. It is this benefit that makes cryotherapy so popular in people seeking shoulder pain relief from injuries and those with chronic back problems. Because of the way in which a sudden rush of external stimuli affects the body, it’s thought that this type of elite sports therapy may actually prompt an immune response, which can lead to faster and more intense internal repair. When the body is made to think that it is in danger because of the freezing cold temperatures that it’s being exposed to, it’s not a surprise that it puts itself on high alert and sends out every defense mechanism in its arsenal. This may explain why professional athletes suffering from hockey injuries and Olympic runners who are over worked from an event swear by cryotherapy cold sauna for its repairing benefits. Past users claim that injury recovery time is reduced and the amount of physical downtime following an event is also reduced even if injury is not present thanks to this form of elite sports therapy.
Whether an individual needs acute treatment following a single injury or longer term care due to chronic pain and discomfort, cold base elite physiotherapy is an excellent option. It’s associated with a greatly reduced risk of side effects or negative reactions in persons deemed healthy enough for the treatment and is an all natural source of pain relief. Cryotherapy is rapidly becoming one of the most popular forms of elite sports therapy, and it’s no surprise given how frequently it’s used by professional athletes around the world.