Lauren Polivka, PT, DPT is a licensed physical therapist, Certified ASTYM clinician, and licensed Trigger Point Dry Needling Specialist who received her doctorate degree in physical therapy from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. Her background stems from a Bachelors of Science in Applied Kinesiology and Physiology from the University of Florida. Lauren’s research in graduate school involved studying new methods to prescribe and monitor exercise intensity. She received clinical education from Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, TN, Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, CA and finally returned to Athletes’ Performance complete a sports physical therapy clinical experience. Upon graduation, she moved to Washington, DC where she worked in a manual therapy and Pilates-based rehabilitation setting. Lauren worked at Core Performance Center in Santa Monica, CA where she integrated standard physical therapy techniques with the methodology of fitness expert, Mark Versetgen. Most recently, she established her own private practice within Balance Gym located  DC and is a clinical director in Buckhead for one of the country’s leading physical therapy companies, Physiotherapy Associates. Her areas of expertise include:

• Treatment of soft tissue injuries specializing in ASTYM treatment
• managing post-operative orthopedic injuries
• Trigger Point dry needling
• Bridging the gap between physical therapy and sport
• Holistic Health Coaching

Lauren has treated members of the NBA, MLS, MLB, NHL, NFL, US Men’s Soccer, LPGA, US Rugby players and a variety of collegiate and high school athletes Lauren has presented at the American Physical Therapy’s Combined Section Meeting, The National Institutes of Health and has served as an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University. She is passionate about working with philanthropic organizations. These include serving as an ambassador for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Therapeutic Development Institute to further research to treat Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She currently serves on the Northwestern University Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. In 2013, she is establishing rehabilitative services for the West Coast of Nicaragua in the town of San Juan Del Sur. Lauren’s philosophy of evaluating and treating patients takes a holistic approach to the human body. Whether you are an elite athlete, weekend warrior or a working professional, Lauren’s goal is to ensure that your quality of life and play are better than before your injury. She is dedicated to bridging the gap between rehabilitation and fitness training. This means continuous communication and teamwork with your trainers, instructors and any other individual you deem important on your road to recovery.

For the past several years, I have been focusing much of my attention on posture and how that relates to prevention and care of injuries. For one, I have wanted to know how the benefits of proper posture in the workplace, car, etc can relate to improvements in fitness and athletic performance. Thus, reducing the risk for injury, improving mechanics of the sport, and when this does occur, results are seen quicker.
I have thought about this from a workplace standpoint, and how we can reduce costs for employers due to time lost due to neck pain, back pain, wrist pain…but also how to keep our population active and in fitness centers, sports, and not in my physical therapy clinic!
Recently, I attended the Andrews Institute of Sports Medicine, annual conference on injuries in baseball. I was fortunate to meet Dr. Tim Brown, the physician and mind behind Intelliskin™ performance apparel. The goal of these posture shirts is to change the way our nerves respond to stresses of sports, fitness, and sitting at a computer in order to minimize pain, enhance the proper alignment, and overall reduce the risk for injury. These come in a variety of sizes and most recently, the PostureCue™ shirt has been developed to wear under dress shirts to work!
In a demanding office environment, I wish I could buy one for every active individual that has to sit and commute during the day. I strongly believe by encouraging the appropriate alignment of our joints and muscles for a long duration at work, only enhances our goals in fitness and injury recovery.
Last month, world renowned orthopedic surgeon, Dr James Andrews and physical therapist, Kevin Wilk, completed a study with baseball pitchers and the effects of IntelliSkin™ technology. Those pitchers that wore the shirts, demonstrated increased pitching speed, decreased fatigue and pain. (See below for the full abstract). The beginning of this type of research may have great implications in our future for professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes. Currently, the likes of professional surfer Kelly Slater and NBA champion Derek Fisher have become ambassadors for postural training and IntelliSkin™.
Check out: www.intelliskin.net
I love my IntelliSkin™ Empower PostureCue™ Sports Bra. I suggest that as active individuals, we become at least open to new technology and postural corrections.
-Lauren Polivka, PT, DPT

If you have more questions or are interested in ordering a shirt email at: info@iceboxtherapy.com or by phone 404- 890- 7066

Check out this article!

Background
Anecdotal reports have indicated that both performance and fatigue are improved in athletic populations wearing the shirt. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the IntelliSkinTM Foundation 2.0 compression shirt on pitching performance, fatigue, pain and discomfort in baseball pitchers.
Methods
Fifteen male baseball pitchers between the ages of 15 and 25 were recruited from local high school and college teams and were identified by head, varsity baseball coaches. Average subject characteristics and standard deviations were as follows: age – 16.1 ± 1.8 years, height – 1.79 ± 0.06 meters, mass – 78.7 ± 10.8 kg. Pitchers had an average of 6± 2 years of pitching experience.
Results
1. Speed improved when wearing the shirts, but subjects did not feel more fatigued, despite the fact that they were throwing faster.
Pitching performance improved significantly when wearing the IntelliSkin TM Foundation 2.0 compression shirt. The pitchers consistently threw faster in the Shirt condition than in the Control condition (p=0.042). The average improvement was over 1 mph which, albeit small, is an important difference for pitchers seeking the greatest advantages available. There were no significant changes in pitching performance over time, indicating that speeds stayed somewhat consistent in both groups across the 60 pitches and any fatigue that may have developed did not significantly affect pitching speed. These results are shown in Figure 1.
2. The shirt also decreased pain significantly; this result became even more pronounced when greater numbers of pitches were thrown. This result is of particular importance for injury prevention. Pitching while in pain is the single greatest risk factor for youth pitching injuries.
General pain and discomfort, assessed through a Visual Analog Scale (VAS), was one of the most compelling results of the study. Although both groups increased their ratings of pain as more pitches were thrown (p 3. Lastly, despite the fact that pitchers were given no feedback of their pitching speeds, they felt as though the shirt did have some impact on their performance, especially as the pitch count increased.
Conclusions
The results of this study indicate that the IntelliSkinTM Foundation 2.0 shirt can be recommended as methods for performance enhancement, pain reduction, and injury prevention. It is likely that the shirt may also improve pitching mechanics; however future research is needed to test this hypothesis.

What is Neuromuscular Sports Therapy and why would anyone want to use something

that hard to say? Well, the best way to look at any modality is: Does it affect my organs,

my structure (bones) or my tissues such as muscles and nerves. Then the next step is

which area of focus will the chosen therapy affect the most.

For affects on the organs two of the most prominently chosen forms of care are load

bearing movements in a workout and your medical doctor. For affects on the structure,

once again, a great workout, a chiropractor or an orthopedist. The third focus, tissues,

are challenged to adapt by a great workout and a practitioner knowledgeable in

manipulation of soft tissue. Muscle and fascia. The two great connections in these

three areas of your physiology are a great workout and your nervous system.

Challenging your bodies capabilities for adaptation through a workout stimulates

changes in your bodies channels of communication. Both bio-chemically and bioelectrically.

Whether you workout hard or workout easy it is perceived as stress on the

body and the body will adapt to accommodate the current load of “stress” it perceives.

Lets look briefly at what a workout is, how your body perceives it and how it chooses to

adapt. I have always utilized the word “Sport” in the description of my treatments as

that is the primary focus for my business interests. I work with people who have a focus

on challenging their bodies through athletic activity. Their chosen interest: be it CrossFit,

Marathon, Triathlon, Swimming, Diving, Tennis, Volleyball, Gymnastics, Dance etc.

constantly keeps their physiology at enhanced levels. They challenge their bodies. I

help alleviate imbalances through soft tissue therapy. Now, lets flip it around to an

individual who, for whatever lifetime reasons, does not work out, at all, other than daily

activities to survive. Some people train to accept and work with greater and greater

loads of weights. That is one end of the spectrum of adaptation. The other end is the

individual who has to train their body to become largely immobilized for long periods of

time. Sitting for periods of 4 hours, 6 hours, 8 hours or more. Both arenas cause the

body to alter its metabolism, its overall balance of muscle tension and the utilization of

hydration and nutrition. The brain only perceives the “state” of the tissue and adapts

accordingly.

Where does neuromuscular sports therapy fall in to place for the entire spectrum of

physiologic adaptation? Simply, throughout the entire range. It does not matter if your

muscles are overly challenged from the stresses of load bearing work or the need to

immobilize for great lengths of time or anywhere in between. I strained a muscle using

145 lbs in a workout is not perceived any differently by your brain than a strained

muscle from immobilized posture or “ I was in an accident and my muscles have never

been the same since.”

Therapeutic manipulation of muscle takes advantage of the properties of the muscle

itself. Muscle can only do one thing. It can only contract or “not contract”. When the

brain, through the nervous system, perceives stress it generally requires muscle to

“protect itself” and the muscle responds in kind and contracts. If a great enough load is

put on the muscle it will alter it’s base line tone and developed enhanced tension. This is

the body and brain working together to keep your structure in alignment so that you can

walk in a straight line. Keep your eyes level and square. And, generally function to

survive to your greatest advantage every day. When the baseline muscle tone is altered

that is when muscle pain is perceived. The constant contraction, from the normal state

of the tissue, begins to cause changes in the flow of blood supplied to the muscle. The

capillary bed is squeezed by the tissue. Normal levels of oxygen, nutrition and water are

no longer available to the tissue. This makes the muscle send out a pain signal to the

brain and the nervous signal back to the tissue requires it to protect itself. The only way

a muscle can protect itself is to contract. Increasing the amount of contraction, over

time, causes a greater decrease in the flow of blood and the negative cycle of pain

continues. Not a great protective cycle of the body. Yet, it believes it is protecting itself

so it will continue until? Until the tissue itself is stimulated to not contract and the cycle

of pain communication is interrupted. This is where therapeutic manipulation can assist

tremendously.

By taking advantage of the way your body communicates bio-mechanically, bioelectrically

and bio-chemically neuromuscular therapy effects the positive cycles of

communication through the alleviation of restricted tissue and enhancing the circulation

of blood. My particular techniques have been developed over 10 years of practice. And

yes, for the jokers reading this article, I am still practicing. If I ever get to be professional

let me know. I employ treatments to focused areas of pain and restriction. These points

are commonly called pain points and trigger points. However, a key to enhancing the

bodies properties is to not only addressing the focused points but the entire muscle or

group of muscles affected by the restrictions of the traumatized tissue. Relief of the

structure; be it cervical, shoulder, lumbar or hip is the philosophy I employ with my

techniques. I find that the balancing of a structure provides the greatest amount of affect

in letting the body begins its own process of re-balancing the tension of the muscles.

Now for the perfect balance after a soft-tissue treatment. What? There’s more? Yes,

there is. All of the responses elicited by a good soft-tissue treatment help hit the re-set

button for muscle. Adhesion is alleviated, tension is relieved and trigger points have

been nullified. Circulation is now enhanced. All good stuff! However, it is never one thing

but finding the “tools” that work best for you to keep your body in a better state of

preparedness to adapt to any given environment. The amplified circulation restored to

your tissues is just that amplified. It will now have an opportunity to return to normal.

However, another term for amplified, or shall we say enhanced, circulation is

“Inflammation” . It is caused with good intent but when the primary effects of the

treatment wear off the remaining blood and intracellular fluid are now inflammation.

The best and most effective treatment to enhance the healing process at this point is

the wonder of Cryo Therapy! Cold has been used for millenia. From a cold towel

compress and hopping into an ice cold mountain stream, the Swiss, Norwegians and

Swede’s using a hot sauna and then a naked roll in the snow to the modern day Polar

Bear clubs that jump into frozen lakes. Can you say “Ouch!!” I can cause I am a guy. In

our world of advancement and adaptation we now have one of the best systems known

in history for gaining all the flushing and healing advantages of cold. It is the overall

application of cold by means of Cryo-Therapy. The ability to control the flow of cold

surrounding the body by means of nitrogen gas has never been rivaled. The benefits of

systemic flushing, cleansing and cell restoration are far reaching by using the Cryo

approach. This is where a therapeutically controlled environment, as is The IceBox, can

provide yet another safe, effective total means to assisting your body in recovering your

genetically programmed ability to keep your body in the best functional shape possible!

The human body is a fascinating cavalcade of tissues and organs with a truly infinite

array of responses. Take that one thought further and please realize that these

responses are generalized among human beings. However, each individuals

perceptions and physiological responses are unique to the individual themselves. We

are each normal in a very customized way and each individual needs to have their

treatments customized to their needs.

I hope some of these thoughts have been helpful. If you have questions or are in need

of a consultation please feel free to contact me. My business is HCVI Consultations. I

am Brian Fox. I can be reached at

foxbrian99@gmail.com or 404-808-4915. Many

thanks for your interest!

If you’re a runner, you probably know that special joy of climbing into a  bathtub filled with ice and cold water.

Your teeth chatter, your lips fade to blue and you channel thoughts of cozy  campfires while you endure 15 or 20 minutes of bone-chilling cold in the  name of reducing inflammation and preventing muscle soreness.

Those chilly dips could become a thing of the past, according to the operators  of a new Austin cryotherapy studio. They say athletes can get the same  benefits by spending just two and a half minutes inside a chamber of  super-cooled nitrogen gas.

The best part? The athlete stays dry and, even though the temperature of the  gas drops to minus 202 degrees Fahrenheit, never feels as miserable as when  languishing in a tub bobbing with ice cubes.

But the treatment is comparatively expensive, and not everyone agrees that  it’s any better than a traditional ice bath.

Intense exercise causes micro trauma to muscle fibers. That means inflammation  and swelling. Immersion in frigid water or application of an ice pack slows  that process.

Cold causes blood vessels to constrict and decreases metabolic activity, which  reduces swelling and tissue breakdown. Some say the re-warming of that  tissue is equally beneficial.

“One of the reported effects is that afterward you get an increase of  blood flow, which helps the lymphatic drainage system kind of clean out  lactic acid,” says Kenny Boyd, head football athletic trainer at UT.

The nearly 6-foot, $50,000 cryochamber at CryoStudio on Bee Cave Road looks  strangely like a giant Coors Light can with a padded pink interior. A huge  tank of nitrogen gas stands next to it.

The chamber simulates a super cold environment, tricking the body into  thinking “we’re about to freeze you,” says Anya Ferry, owner of  CryoStudio of Austin.

In two and a half minutes, the surface of the skin cools briefly to between 30  degrees and 32 degrees, but the soft muscle below doesn’t get cold.

Much of the benefit comes when you step out of the chamber, Ferry says. The  nearly 300-degree change in temperature causes the blood vessels to expand  rapidly, rushing oxygen-rich blood from the core to the muscles. (People  with hypertension shouldn’t use the machine, she says.)

Whole-body cryotherapy using cold gas technology is relatively new. It’s been  used at health and wellness spas in Europe since the mid-1990s but didn’t  migrate to the United States as therapy for athletes until early this year.

Runners at Nike headquarters in Oregon use one of the machines; so do athletes at ESPN World in Florida. The Dallas Mavericks have a cryotherapy chamber, and the San Antonio Spurs lease one. Dr. Oz recently did a live demonstration with one of the machines on his television show.

Curious about whether nippy nitrogen gas is a viable alternative to ice bath  misery or just a dramatic stage effect, I headed to CryoStudio of Austin  after a seven-mile morning run.

I removed my clothes, leaving on my socks to protect my feet from frostbite.  Then I stepped into the chamber and snapped the door shut. Ferry turned on  the gas, which she assured me is harmless. Under her direction, I rotated  slowly while chilly, whitish blasts of gas filled the chamber.

For the next 21/2 minutes, I felt like I was standing in a cloud of dry ice. I  felt cold, especially the last 30 seconds, but not unbearably so. It felt  like I’d peeled off my bathrobe and was standing outside on a snowy day.

I warmed up as soon as I stepped out of the Silver Bullet.

“It definitely feels cold, but not as uncomfortable as an ice bath,”  says Ferry, a personal trainer who earned her master’s degree in physical  education. She ran track at Texas State University, where her mother, Galina  Bukharina, recently retired as head track coach.

One of the reported benefits of whole-body cryotherapy is a boost of energy  and improved athletic performance. I didn’t notice that, but I did feel  about the same as if I’d taken an ice bath — pleasantly pooped from my run,  without much post-run soreness.

In Austin, CryoStudio Austin clients include triathletes, basketball players  and Abigail Ruston, a 28-year-old former collegiate shot putter hoping to  make it to the 2012 Olympic Games after an injury-stalled attempt at the  2008 Olympics.

She’s long used ice baths to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation, but  calls them a “mental chore.” “You have to get pumped up and  tell yourself it’s going to be OK before getting in an ice bath,”  Ruston says. “Afterward you’re cold, even on a hot summer day.”

This time, she’s using cryotherapy instead.

“I think it’s awesome that they’ve outsmarted the body in a sense. You  don’t need to go through physical punishment to get the same benefit,”  she says.

A review of whole-body cryotherapy in athletes published in Sports Med in 2010  noted that the treatment had an anti-inflammatory effect in a study of rugby  players and that kayakers who used it had reduced microinjuries to their  muscle fibers after exercise. The article concluded that whole-body  cryotherapy aids athletic recovery.

via- austin360.com

Can an endurance athlete be successful eating a paleo diet?  I hear this question all of the time and I was actually the one asking it a few years ago.  Does it work?  Yep.  How do I know?  I tried it and actually won a marathon eating paleo.  My experience completely changed my life – it was then that I truly decided paleo was legit.  It’s been a little over two years for me now; and fortunately in that time I’ve had the opportunity to work with and prove to many elite and highly competitive endurance athletes that paleo doesn’t just work – it makes them better!  How do they do it?  It’s all very individual and we work together, changing and adjusting as needed until everything is dialed in.

This post will be the first of many giving you a look into the world of a paleo athlete.  First up is superstar rower Ursula Grobler.  Ursula is currently working toward an Olympic berth at the London 2012 games.  I have had the pleasure of working with Ursula on her nutrition since January.  She’s definitely got the desire and dedication it takes to be a champion.  Now let’s hear what Ursula’s got to say about life as a paleo athlete.

Eight Questions with Ursula Grobler:

Question #1:

Why did you switch to a paleo diet?

Ursula’s Answer:  I saw what some of the other lightweight rowers were doing to make weight; ie: not eating and then gorging on doughnuts after weigh-ins, and I thought that there must be a better way to be lean and still perform. At the time, I worked at the Anytime Fitness Gym in Lake Stevens, WA.   My manager there connected me with a dietitian that was a paleo advocate and that was my introduction to the paleo diet.  When I first started it was really hard to grasp the routine of eating this way.  I battled a lot and ‘cheated’ many times and for a few years was on and then off.  I loved sandwiches and milk and cereal and it was incredibly hard to undo these patterns.  But the science of the diet made sense, and the way I felt while on paleo was my real proof.  So I kept plugging away at being from 50% paleo to 70% to 90% to now, where I do my best to keep to the diet.  I don’t even feel like I’m missing out anymore.

Question #2:

How has Paleo helped you?

Ursula’s Answer:  At first the amount of energy I had was noticeably different.  I could hold a larger volume of training and recovery was faster.  I also noticed how my nerves and cognitive ability kept sharp and those sluggish lulls in the day were being erased.  My whole quality of life went up, with little things like my allergies that went away and I was sickless often. I was more productive and had more time for what I really wanted to do.

With more training, I catapulted into the rowing scene breaking the world record on the Concept 2 rowing machine just three years after taking my first strokes at a “Learn to Row Class”.  I learned to row at the age of 26 and now I’m standing in line as an Olympic hopeful for 2012.  I believe diet had a huge part in making this dream, that I was told had passed me by, possible!

As I’ve switched into what I call paleo lifestyle. I am passionate knowing that eating this way has a huge impact on our environment.  Farm raised versus wild caught; grass fed, free ranging over caged and hormone injected. Unfortunately, I don’t have money to donate to the causes that lobby for better practices over profits.  I can’t make a movie to bring awareness of the cost of eating the standard American diet and thus supporting fast foods giants and pharmaceutical companies.  But I can have influence over what I buy and what I eat.  Choosing to eat paleo means no processed foods and fewer factories, plastics, and boxes leaving more soil for local farmers.  It means less transport, thus less use of fossil fuels and more peace.  This fosters in me more love; less stress.  It’s going back to basics.  It’s a great way to live.

Question #3:

What’s the hardest thing about being a Paleo athlete?

Ursula’s Answer:  The hardest thing about being a paleo athlete is traveling.  From the moment you get into the international plane that feeds you rice cakes and pretzels, to being in the hotel where the meals are covered in sauces of dairy and bread fillers.  It’s not dire, because out of the adversity I have learned to find the local grocery stores in the towns where we are competing.  I buy fresh paleo foods.  These foods are often hard to store and/or cook in a hotel room with no kitchen.  But this makes for fun and necessary excursions or site-seeing, depending on how you look at it.  And usually by the end of a competition I’m great friends with the hotel kitchen staff.

Question #4:

What are your favorite Paleo foods?

Ursula’s Answer:  Pumpkin – (Although I try to eat seasonally, here I am thankful I can get this all year round).  There is nothing like smoked salmon and grilled peaches are just about the best.

I love kale as the leaves in any salad.  I love the way it looks and the way it tastes!  I really like an oven grilled whole chicken.  And mango – I love leaning over the kitchen sink getting my hands covered in juice – the whole messy experience of eating around the hard seed and then cleaning my teeth afterwards from all the fibrous strands!  I really like pumpkin seed butter too!

Question #5:

Do other athletes and/or coaches try to convert you to a ‘normal’ athlete’s diet (high carbs, low fat)?

Ursula’s Answer:  Not athletes.  Most athletes are open to learn.  Coaches want performance, so if you perform – then it’s your business how you eat.  It’s when you don’t perform that they will start questioning your diet, but usually at this point it’s not the diet, there are other mental factors like lack of sleep and high cortisol levels that seem to be the hindrance.  The most critical are medical doctors actually.  Funny how that works out?  The people who are thought to know the most about your workings don’t care about your well-being.

Question #6:

Do you have any words of wisdom?

Ursula’s Answer: Small things helped me in the beginning – like shopping only the perimeter of the grocery store and staying out of the aisles!  Watching less TV and being less subjected to the ads telling me what to eat all the time!  Also, reading labels – if I couldn’t pronounce it or it had more than five ingredients, I didn’t buy it.  Start taking outings to farmers markets, making time to cook and enjoy eating with your hands (just meaning handling the foods and eating them raw!)  Basically, don’t have a food phobia, counting calories, stressing about fat content, etc. Enjoy your food.  Sit down, really taste it.  If you eat paleo foods your taste buds will be alive and the whole experience of eating will be just that, an experience; and you get to do it every day, at least three times. WOW!  Now that’s a bargain in entertainment!

Question #7:

How can Robb and I help you get to the 2012 Olympics?

Ursula’s Answer:  Just keep refining all the details as we are doing.  When I have to make weight, stay hydrated, be fresh, and perform in these super competitive power-endurance races. It’s all part of the journey and we are tinkering with it together.  In my experience it’s always changing. I wanted one-plan and one way – but the body adapts and so do the conditions you are training in.  You need to change it up and keep it fresh – it’s a very involved process.

Question #8:

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

Ursula’s Answer:  As competitive as I am as an athlete, I bring the same vigor into what eating this way brings to living for all mankind.  I know this will help keep people out of hospitals, stop obesity (seriously, how do you overeat on vegetables and lean meats?).  There will be more time spent with the soil and with our souls.  Right now my training and goal of the Olympics is quite consuming, but afterwards I can’t wait to use all this experience and influence to teach others what this lifestyle can do for them.  Paleo living gives life back!

Thank you for sharing your story and thoughts with us Ursula!  You are truly Elite!!!

If you would like to learn more about Ursula visit her websites at:

www.ursulagrobler.com

www.rowstarproject.com

via- www.robbwolf.com

 

Brrrrr with health benefits

It may sound as if you’d freeze instantly, but Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD, owner of Integrative Health and co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Thyroid Disease says “many describe the sensation of whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) to standing in front of an open freezer door.” So if you’ve ever stood in front of the freezer spooning Ben & Jerry’s right out of the container after a bad date, you know the feeling.

Christianson says the benefits of cryotherapy include:

• Pain relief from tendinitis, fibromyalgia, arthritis and migraines
• Improved athletic performance by enhancing muscle endurance, increasing speed and strength, and speeding recovery
• Increased metabolism and more calories burned
• Increased energy
• Improved skin, reduced cellulite and more elastic skin, treatment for dermatitis and psoriasis and repaired tissue
• Enhanced endorphins, which improve depth of sleep, and relieve stress and depression

How cryotherapy works

Inside the Cryosauna chamber, you are gently sprayed with a mist of nitrogen. (Nitrogen is safe and non-toxic and makes up 80 percent of our natural atmosphere.) This dry mist gently chills the skin while leaving your core warm, thus stimulating your body’s natural healing process, says Christianson. “The temperature level in whole body cryotherapy is brisk but very tolerable,” he adds.

Many people feel significant benefits after just one treatment. “For continued benefits, we recommend one treatment per week for one month, with continued treatments once or twice per month. For relief of significant pain or skin disease, we recommend up to 10 treatments in close succession (e.g. , three times per week) for maximum results. For continued benefits, we recommend treatments one to four times per month.”

Cryotherapy isn’t for everyone

WBC is not recommend for pregnant women or those with uncontrolled blood pressure, heart disease, seizures, Raynaud’s syndrome or acute infection, says Christianson. “Patients within the ages of 12 to 18 years old can be treated with parental consent.”

Feel like chillin’? WBC is quickly becoming available in most metropolitan areas, says Christianson. For a list of current WBC locations in the United States, go to lifeofmillennium.com/mii-usa.php

Cryotherapy is use of temperature lower than -100 degrees C onto body surface, for 2-3 minutes, in aim to cause physiological reactions for cold and to use such adapting… reactions. Organism’s positive response to cryotherapy supports treatment of basic disease and facilitates kinesitherapy. Low temperature may be obtained by use of air flow cooled with liquid nitrogen; this could be applied either locally, over chosen part of the body, or generally, over the whole body, in cryosauna or in cryochamber. The most efficiently is applying cryotherapy twice a day, with at least 3 hours interval. Kinesitherapy is necessarily used after each cryotherapy session. Whole treatment takes 2 to 6 weeks, depending on patient’s needs. Cryotherapy reduces pain and swellings, causes skeletal muscles relaxation and increase of their force, also, motion range in treated joints increases. Thus, cryotherapy seems to fulfill all necessary conditions for rehabilitation in osteoporosis. Cryotherapy represents numerous advantages: it takes short time for applying, being well tolerated by patient, also patient’s status improves quickly. In addition, contraindications against cryotherapy are rare. All this makes cryotherapy a method for a broad use in prophylactics and treatment of osteoporosis.

The French team AG2R-La Mondiale will use cryotherapy to help enhance recovery during the Tour de France, the squad announced today.

Riders will endure three minutes in a special whole body suit, pioneered by Tec4H, which is filled with liquid nitrogen at -150 degrees Celsius.

Cold is said to aid recovery and reduce inflammation, and riders have traditionally taken ice baths to help recuperate from intense efforts. However, the short blast of extreme cold in the new suits, which cover the entire body from neck to ankle, has other benefits, explained the team’s medical director Eric Bouvat.

“Cryotherapy is a technique which has been used in Eastern countries for several decades to fight against inflammation in people suffering from rheumatism,” Bouvat said. “They saw the effectiveness and developed it for use in athletes with inflamed muscle and tendons after exercise.

“This technique has been developed for use by our team this year in France by the company Tec4H. We use it on our athletes for two reasons: first to facilitate recovery and fight against pain after exercise. Secondly, when used over the long term, cold can help boost the immune system.

“We use cryotherapy on the team after the stages, but we also use it in the morning because the cold stimulates the endocrine system and the production of hormones.”

The Ice Bath has been regularly used in professional sports for the rehabilitation of athletes from injuries and/or heavy workouts. But the Ice Bath affects the body in a completely different way then does the Whole Body Cryotherapy at ICEBOX, which has now been shown to be much more beneficial, with no negative side effects.

First, during the 15-20 minutes of Ice Bathing, tissue freezes quite deep and frozen muscles temporarily lose capacity. Muscle tissue needs time to return to normal and after the Ice Bath the body needs rest. So regardless of the time of day when the Ice Bath took place, the athlete cannot get back to practice earlier than the next day. In contrast, ICEBOX does not actually freeze muscles tissue, it only creates a powerful illusion that the body freezes. Therefore, only 5-10 minutes after an ICEBOX session, an athlete can continue to work out or perform, completely energized and able to make full use of the day.

Next, the body’s reaction to cryotherapy temperatures (temperatures lower than -110C or -166F) in the Cryo device is radically different from its reaction to low temperatures while submerged in the Ice Bath. The biggest difference lies in the fact that , when gradually cooled in an Ice Bath, the body attempts to warm as much blood as possible in its core in order to send it to the peripheral parts to maintain warm skin surface. In other words, while in an Ice Bath, the body is struggling with actual, unrelenting, penetrating physical cold (not just signals from skin cold sensors). The process continues, while the body tries to generate sufficient heat to maintain warmth in the peripheral body parts. When the heat is no longer enough, the muscles start to congeal and freeze, beginning at the skin surface and continuing inward to the body’s center. For this reason, longer stays in the Ice Bath can cause hypothermia that can lead to death, as it is very difficult to stop this process once begun.

But in the cryo device at ICEBOX, the skin surface reaches temperature of -1C/32F in just 30-40 seconds while the circulating temperatures around the skin reach -170C (this is impossible in an Ice Bath where skin temperatures cannot drop lower than +5C/41F). The signal sent from the skin to the brain about the new critical environment is so powerful that the brain understands immediately – it is impossible to keep the peripheral parts of the body warm. Instead, blood vessels and capillaries undergo severe vasoconstriction to keep the body’s core temperature from dropping, triggering the processes described previously which include enrichment of blood and circulating it to internal organs under higher blood pressure. This never happens in an Ice Bath. Lastly, while in the Ice Bath, oxygen supply to the skin surface is interrupted, and it causes skin surfaces injury that can promote skin problems if the procedure is often repeated.