Can Whole Body CryoTherapy Help Me Live A Healthy Lifestyle Even If I Have Arthritis?

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Arthritis kills our quality of life, constant pain just doing normal easy tasks takes its toll on our psyche and keeps up from living, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Did you know that CryoTherapy was originally used to help patients with rheumatoid arthritis? Doctor Yamaguchi in the late 70’s began with freezing temperature in short-time durations on the surface of the skin (CryoTherapy) to help his patients deal with the pain of arthritis. Without the extreme pain patients were able to manage a milder pain and easily tolerate it, often for days between treatments.

Today, a modern Whole Body CyroTherapy sauna can deliver nearly 8-10 times colder temperatures to the whole body all at once. This alleviates the chronic inflammation in the joints, allowing the body to reset, while also increasing the collagen protein in the body. Many CryoTherapy believers tell how it’s been ‘life-changing’ for them. No longer having to avoid their favorite activities or being stuck and immobilized by pain. Some folks have even been able to ditch their pain medications altogether along with their other arthritis drugs.

How Does CryoTherapy Do That?

It is known that CryoTherapy helps induce the collagen protein, which helps in strengthening bones, joints, tendons and cartilage. It’s also known that CryoTherapy helps to reduce inflammation – chronic inflammation is responsible for much of the pain suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. We know that CryoTherapy helps produce anti-oxidants in the blood, something else those with rheumatoid arthritis lack in capacity.

It’s hard to say exactly why it works so well or why those who have arthritis swear by Whole Body CryoTherapy. We do know that it lowers the histamine reactions in the body. Research is still on-going, but when a 75-year old who has arthritis can go out and play tennis again with friends, something is up. It’s not a coincidence.

One clinical research study showed noticeable improvement with between 1-3 cryotherapy sessions and after 10-15 sessions patients told of retreating symptoms and a drastic reduction in pain. When coupled with physical therapy a few patients were able to ditch their wheel chairs, while all noted improved ease of movement. These results continued for 6-months after the therapy. Ask your doctor if you should try Whole Body CryoTherapy, maybe you can get off those meds too?

Now then, let’s survey a couple of research papers on this topic, shall we? The first, I’d like to make notice of is: “Cryotherapy decreases histamine levels in the blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis,” by E. Wojtecka-Lukasik • K. Ksiezopolska-Orlowska • E. Gaszewska • O. Krasowicz-Towalska • P. Rzodkiewicz • D. Maslinska • D. Szukiewicz • S. Maslinski and published in December 18, 2009 (Inflamm. Res. (2010) 59 (Suppl 2):S253-S255 DOI 10.1007/s00011-009-0144-1).

Another paper worthy of mention is: “The Influence of Temperature and Fibril Stability on Degradation of Cartilage Collagen by Rheumatoid Synovial Collagenase,” by Edward D. Harris, Jr., M.D., and Peter A. McCroskery, M.S. (N Engl J Med 1974; 290:1-6 DOI: 10.1056/NEJM197401032900101).

And, the last piece of research was a pilot study, which showed yielded benefits: “Serial whole-body cryotherapy in the criostream for inflammatory rheumatic diseases,” (PMID:18548207).