The word cryotherapy comes from the Greek “cryo” which means cold, and “therapeia” which means cure or heal.

No, cryotherapy has been utilized for much longer than many people realize.

History of cryotherapy

2500 BCE - The Egyptians used cold to treat injuries and inflammation.

400 B.C.: Hippocrates, also known as the father of medicine, was an ancient Greek physician who documented the benefits of cold exposure when applied to inflammation, pain, and bleeding.

Napoleonic Era: Ice was widely used as a cooling mechanism for amputation and anesthesia.

1845: Englishman Dr. James Arnott, also known as the father of modern cryosurgery, observed the local cold application on numerous conditions — from headaches to tumors — and reported back the benefits. His solution mixed crushed salt with ice for temperatures of -18° to – 24° C and was used to freeze skin, breast, and cervical cancer tumors.

1851: Arnott launched a cold therapy apparatus at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 with the intent to apply to acne and neuralgia, but the device failed to get cold enough for his purpose. Arnott recognized the analgesic numbing effect of cold, recommending its use to anesthetize the skin before surgery

1889: Campbell White was the first person to use liquid gas in medicine. His air, at a chilling -195° C, was used to treat a diverse number of skin ailments. Using a gas flask as a liquid air sprayer, it was the first handheld cryosurgery device available.

1907: William A. Pusey, a Chicago-based physician, preferred the use of carbon dioxide snow at a temperature of -78.5° C, to treat a number of maladies.

1950: Liquid nitrogen breaks onto the scene at a whopping -196° C and begins being used in clinical practice. Herman V. Allington was at the forefront of this practice, using cotton swabs dipped in liquid nitrogen to treat various skin diseases.

1960’s: Between 1961 and 1970, other cryosurgical apparatuses were developed using liquid nitrogen and other cryogenic agents, including nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, argon, ethyl chloride, and fluorinated hydrocarbons. These were mainly handheld devices.

1978: Dr. Yamaguchi coins the term “whole body cryotherapy” and freezes his patient’s skin for pain management of rheumatoid arthritis. After experiencing positive results, he and his partner began developing cryotherapy chambers.

1980’s: In the 1980s Dr. Yamaguchi expanded his research from freezing specific joints to treating the whole body, and discovered that rapid short-term freezing in a cryo chamber had better results than the gradual freezing of an ice bath.

2000’s: Nordic and Eastern European countries adopt cryotherapy, with Polish scientists adapting Yamaguchi’s approach to decrease recovery time and increase athletic performance. In May 2000, the Olympic rehabilitation center opened in Spala, Poland, featuring cryotherapy machines for training and injury rehabilitation.

Today: We now have various whole body cryotherapy (WBC) chambers that most commonly utilize nitrogen or electricity as their source of cold. We also have localized cryotherapy devices that use nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or electricity as their source of cold. We have had extreme advancements in the technology of our devices and continue to learn about the various applications and health benefits of cryotherapy.

Cryotherapy means “cold therapy”, so any use of cold can be considered cryotherapy. However, not all forms of cryotherapy are equally as effective.

Frozen bag of peas, ice pack, cold shower, ice bath, whole body cryotherapy (WBC), and localized cryotherapy are all forms of cryotherapy.

At Top Shelf Wellness, we utilize a state-of-the-art localized cryotherapy device from the UK for our services. It has 10 attachments that serve different purposes depending on what we are trying to accomplish.

Cryotherapy or the application of cold for therapeutic purposes can be utilized for a multitude of benefits such as:

Pain management

Performance recovery

Reduce inflammation

Strengthens immune system

Improve blood circulation

Accelerate muscle and tissue repair

Detoxification

Improves sleep, stress management, and states of depression

Weightloss

Cellulite reduction

Anti-aging

Boost collagen production

Inhibit collagenase activity

Our localized cryotherapy helps reduce or eliminate pain in a variety of ways. We pinpoint the source of pain and concentrate our efforts where it matters most. The rapid cooling from the -107 degree air stimulates a thermal shock which causes the body to initiate the fight or flight response. With this response, a number of physiological processes are triggered to survive and preserve the core/vital organs.

Some of these physiological processes include:

• Blood vessels in the underlying tissue constrict otherwise called vasoconstriction, temporarily redirecting blood away from the area of cold exposure to the core and vital organs

• The body will increase its respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure

• Blood becomes highly oxygenated during this time and becomes enriched with hormones, enzymes, etc.

• Once the cold source is removed, blood vessels will dilate to 4x their resting size, causing the blood that has been freshly oxygenated to rush to areas that were vasoconstricted.

• This process and the contents the increased oxygen, hormones, and enzymes help with muscle relaxation and increasing ROM

• The endorphins help reduce pain levels by slowing synaptic communication between nerves (somewhat like an opioid)

• If it’s a long-term injury, our cryotherapy treatments can help relieve the symptoms and be a great addition to any rehab program.