Cryogenic Chamber Therapy / Cold Adaptation

[Laura]

I'm interested in this after reading a few articles about it along with some of the findings of Dr. Jack Kruse, who is introduced here: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,26988.0.html

Has anybody else tried it and can we find places where it is done that are relatively close by? So far, it looks like I would have to go to Poland, Germany or Austria and to get a series of treatments, that would entail about a two week stay.

 

[SeekinTruth]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I'm planning on doing some more research into this issue as time permits. If I'm not mistaken, there was an article or two on SOTT within the last couple of months about how many top athletes are doing these treatments/protocols. I think Dr. Kruse mentions athletes too.

If there isn't a practical way of getting it done outside, Dr. Kruse has protocols to do it at home, but having glanced through it, I'm not looking forward to trying it. :P

It IS supposed to be great for weigh loss for people who hit a plateau and then stop losing weight or it proceeds VERY slowly on a ketogenic diet, besides all the other health / longevity / performance benefits claimed. FWIW.

 

[RedFox]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I've not tried it (yet), but when I get a chance to read over the material I'll probably try the cold showers first. Makes me wonder about the Scandinavian practice of hot saunas followed by a dip in an icy lake.

Found a few more places that offer it (seems spa's and sports therapy centres are the best places to look).

_http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/4538936/Big-chill-the-hidden-medical-benefits-of-cryotherapy.html

Cryotherapy sessions cost £26 at the AlpenMedHotel Lamm (Seefeld, Austria, 0043 5212 2464, _www.alpenmedhotel.com), with rooms from £82 per person. EasyJet flies to nearby Innsbruck from London Gatwick, from £44 return.

Where else to go to feel the deep freeze:

CHAMPNEYS, Tring

Two-chamber cryotherapy suite, with a deep freeze that goes down to -135C. Sessions, which include a 50-minute 're-warm' in the Vibrogym, from £50.

Details: 08703 300 300; _www.champneys.com

WHITES OF WEXFORD, Ireland

Ireland's first cryotherapy clinic, with three cold chambers from -10C to -110C. London Irish block-booked the suite last week. Recommended three sessions per day, from €135 (€105 for hotel guests). Rooms from €49 B&B, and from €175 B&B including dinner for two at weekends.

Details: 00353 53 912 2311; _www.whitesofwexford.ie

AQUACITY, Slovakia

Geothermal waterpark in north east Slovakia where cryotherapy treatments cost around €15 (€59 for five sessions). A four-night stay from £356 per person.

 

[RedFox]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Aha! Found something closer to home for you guys.

_http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ag2r-using-cryotherapy-for-tour-de-france

"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.

Can't read french, but it looks right.
_http://www.tec4h.com/

One word of caution...
_http://www.atwistedspoke.com/cryotherapy-mishap-ag2r-rider-accidently-frozen/

AG2R rider Yuriy Krivtsov was accidentally frozen.

Geez

 

[SeekinTruth]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Woah!! That's crazy, going as cold as -135 C, isn't it?! I don't know it's giving me the willies.... FWIW, Dr. Kruse's protocol is totally different, with the aim of getting the skin to between 50 and 55 F and it prevents the core of the body from dropping to very low temperatures.

 

[Pierre]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

can we find places where it is done that are relatively close by?

There are several cryotherapy center / physicians in France. Actually it was used with some success by a French cycling team during the last "Tour de France". Allegedly it reduced dramatically the cyclists recovery delays.


Well'kin
34470 Perols
0467202022

Unité mobile cryotechno
34170 Castelnau-le-Lez
0467200203

docteur LABADIE
Nimes
0466040101

Cryotherapy Center
Espace Santé 1 - 349 Avenue de Rome
83500- La Seyne Sur Mer
www.espaces-sante.com

 

[Renaissance]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Woah!! That's crazy, going as cold as -135 C, isn't it?! I don't know it's giving me the willies.... FWIW, Dr. Kruse's protocol is totally different, with the aim of getting the skin to between 50 and 55 F and it prevents the core of the body from dropping to very low temperatures.

I don't know if it's totally different as it might still be acting on the same principals. I think it was in the Underground Wellness podcast that Kruse was talking about the medical use of cold metal to lower temperatures, although I'm not sure if that was the same method as cryogenic therapy. In the podcast he was talking about how metal is much much more conductive than water or air, so it can get you cold adapted much faster, but he also said it can be quite dangerous and should only be done in a medical setting.

The thing with doing the cryogenic therapy is that if you wanted to stay cold adapted, then I would assume you'd have to go back for maintenance. Or maybe after doing some treatments you could just do ice packing, cold showers or baths.

I've been doing the cold showers for about a week and a half, and I actually started looking forward to them after a couple of days. I had done cold water therapy several years ago and found it useful then too, but I didn't stick with it and it was before going Paleo. The showers are tough in the beginning, but the clearness and calmness felt afterwards is pretty remarkable and creates quite an insentive. If doing it at home, starting with ice packs is what Kruse recommends. I did this yesterday and after already doing the cold showers I was able to do an hour with 24 lbs of ice wearing compression clothing.

 

[SeekinTruth]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Yes Shane, he mentioned it in the podcast about the medical use of cold metal. And mentioned that metal is 100 times more temperature conductive than air and water is 24 times more than air (I think I remember reading the same thing on his site earlier). And he did mention the dangers of using metal and he's not a fan of it.

So it seems like you're joining Odyssey and a couple of others in this cold adaptation experiment. I did dumping huge buckets of cold water over my head in the shower a couple years ago. I forget what it was called, I read about it first on the forum here and there were a few links to other websites, I think. And it was mentioned that it's better than just taking cold showers. But I started with the cold shower so I could move out of the stream when it got too much in the beginning. The water out of the tap here is REALLY cold.

I do remember having a very calm and alert state after working up to dumping the cold water over my head for a few weeks. Also a little before that I had to actually take cold showers and dump ice water and ice over myself a few times because I was having recurring VERY high fevers with recurring urinary tract infections / prostatitis. Man, bad memories. But that's what got my rear end in gear and I started making some serious dietary changes, especially cutting out sweets and coffee.

Sorry for going a bit off topic. So it looks like there's plenty of places to check out in France. :)

 

[Renaissance]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

So it seems like you're joining Odyssey and a couple of others in this cold adaptation experiment. I did dumping huge buckets of cold water over my head in the shower a couple years ago. I forget what it was called, I read about it first on the forum here and there were a few links to other websites, I think. And it was mentioned that it's better than just taking cold showers. But I started with the cold shower so I could move out of the stream when it got too much in the beginning. The water out of the tap here is REALLY cold.

Not sure if this is the thread, but there is a short one called Tempering that discusses it a little bit. Another thing brought up in that thread is how Gurdjieff experienced his first moment of self remembering after dumping a bucket of cold water on his head.

 

[Bo]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Woah!! That's crazy, going as cold as -135 C, isn't it?! I don't know it's giving me the willies.... FWIW, Dr. Kruse's protocol is totally different, with the aim of getting the skin to between 50 and 55 F and it prevents the core of the body from dropping to very low temperatures.

I don't know if it's totally different as it might still be acting on the same principals. I think it was in the Underground Wellness podcast that Kruse was talking about the medical use of cold metal to lower temperatures, although I'm not sure if that was the same method as cryogenic therapy. In the podcast he was talking about how metal is much much more conductive than water or air, so it can get you cold adapted much faster, but he also said it can be quite dangerous and should only be done in a medical setting.

The thing with doing the cryogenic therapy is that if you wanted to stay cold adapted, then I would assume you'd have to go back for maintenance. Or maybe after doing some treatments you could just do ice packing, cold showers or baths.

I've been doing the cold showers for about a week and a half, and I actually started looking forward to them after a couple of days. I had done cold water therapy several years ago and found it useful then too, but I didn't stick with it and it was before going Paleo. The showers are tough in the beginning, but the clearness and calmness felt afterwards is pretty remarkable and creates quite an insentive. If doing it at home, starting with ice packs is what Kruse recommends. I did this yesterday and after already doing the cold showers I was able to do an hour with 24 lbs of ice wearing compression clothing.

I agree, I took cold showers some few years back and it felt far more refreshing then taking hot water, I felt energized for hours, then I stopped and went back to hot water and got used to that, guess I will slowly try to adapt to cold showers once more and keep up with it this time :D

 

[Laura]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

One word of caution...
_http://www.atwistedspoke.com/cryotherapy-mishap-ag2r-rider-accidently-frozen/

AG2R rider Yuriy Krivtsov was accidentally frozen.

Geez

I was freaking out until I read it... it's obviously a joke. For one thing, you don't take a "bath" in liquid nitrogen, nor wear a special suit... plus, the jokey way they were talking about "thawing him out.."

 

[dugdeep]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I've been slowly bringing the temperature of my showers down over the course of the week. I still have a ways to go before I'm doing just the cold water (that's really cold!), but I'm getting there.

I'll be really interested to see where all of this leads - opening an ancient evolutionary pathway in the brain or just frostbite

 

[rylek]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Woah!! That's crazy, going as cold as -135 C, isn't it?! I don't know it's giving me the willies.... FWIW, Dr. Kruse's protocol is totally different, with the aim of getting the skin to between 50 and 55 F and it prevents the core of the body from dropping to very low temperatures.

I don't know if it's totally different as it might still be acting on the same principals. I think it was in the Underground Wellness podcast that Kruse was talking about the medical use of cold metal to lower temperatures, although I'm not sure if that was the same method as cryogenic therapy. In the podcast he was talking about how metal is much much more conductive than water or air, so it can get you cold adapted much faster, but he also said it can be quite dangerous and should only be done in a medical setting.

The thing with doing the cryogenic therapy is that if you wanted to stay cold adapted, then I would assume you'd have to go back for maintenance. Or maybe after doing some treatments you could just do ice packing, cold showers or baths.

I've been doing the cold showers for about a week and a half, and I actually started looking forward to them after a couple of days. I had done cold water therapy several years ago and found it useful then too, but I didn't stick with it and it was before going Paleo. The showers are tough in the beginning, but the clearness and calmness felt afterwards is pretty remarkable and creates quite an insentive. If doing it at home, starting with ice packs is what Kruse recommends. I did this yesterday and after already doing the cold showers I was able to do an hour with 24 lbs of ice wearing compression clothing.

I agree, I took cold showers some few years back and it felt far more refreshing then taking hot water, I felt energized for hours, then I stopped and went back to hot water and got used to that, guess I will slowly try to adapt to cold showers once more and keep up with it this time :D

I had the same experience with cold showers some years ago. One felt extremely energized after the shower, not the sort of groggy feeling I get with normal showers. Back then I was exercising quite a lot so the combination of strenuous exercise combined with the cold showers definitely gave my body a boost in the right direction. I guess time to get back into that habit but after years of living in a cold climate in inadequately heated living spaces it might take a while :)

 

[Gaby]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Some research about this therapy:

Whole-Body Cryotherapy in Athletes
http://www.cryotechno.com/project/resources/apps/gbanfi-et-al-_-wholebody-cryotherapy-in-athletes.pdf

THERMAL, CIRCULATORY, AND NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES TO WHOLE-BODY CRYOTHERAPY
http://www.cryotechno.com/project/resources/apps/tarja-westerlund-thermal-circulatory-and-neuromuscular-responses-to-wholebody-cryotherapy.pdf

It says you won't get frostbite if you stay still :/ At least it spends some time explaining how they never seen frostbite and how skin temperatures remains at secure levels.

Then, going to pubmed and typing the keyword "Whole Body Cryotherapy" will give 340 articles from which 57 are free full text and 32 are reviews. The most interesting ones are in Polish though...

Cryostimulation as an antioxidative factor in sclerosis multiplex].

Miller E.

Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2011 Sep;31(183):186-9. Review. Polish.


[The effects of whole-body cryotherapy and melatonin supplementation on total antioxidative status and some antioxidative enzymes in multiple sclerosis patients].

Miller E, Mrowicka M, Malinowska K, Kedziora J, Majsterek I.

Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2011 Sep;31(183):150-3. Polish.



Impact of Different Treatment of Whole-Body Cryotherapy on Circulatory Parameters.

Bonomi FG, De Nardi M, Fappani A, Zani V, Banfi G.

Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2012 Feb 7. [Epub ahead of print]



Effects of regional and whole-body hypothermic treatment before and after median nerve injury on neuropathic pain and glial activation in rat cuneate nucleus.

Tsai YJ, Huang CT, Lin SC, Yeh JH.

Anesthesiology. 2012 Feb;116(2):415-31.


Effects of whole-body cryotherapy vs. far-infrared vs. passive modalities on recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage in highly-trained runners.

Hausswirth C, Louis J, Bieuzen F, Pournot H, Fournier J, Filliard JR, Brisswalter J.

PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e27749. Epub 2011 Dec 7.



Brain cooling and eligible newborns: should we extend the indications?

Gancia P, Pomero G.

J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2011 Oct;24 Suppl 1:53-5. Review.



[Systemic and immunomodulatory effects of whole body therapeutic hypothermia].

Pongor V, Toldi G, Szabó M, Vásárhelyi B.

Orv Hetil. 2011 Apr 10;152(15):575-80. Review. Hungarian.



[Physiologic effects of hypothermia].

Kovács E, Jenei Z, Horváth A, Gellér L, Szilágyi S, Király A, Molnár L, Sótonyi P Jr, Merkely B, Zima E.

Orv Hetil. 2011 Jan 30;152(5):171-81. Review. Hungarian.



Whole-body cryotherapy in athletes.

Banfi G, Lombardi G, Colombini A, Melegati G.

Sports Med. 2010 Jun 1;40(6):509-17. doi: 10.2165/11531940-000000000-00000. Review.



[Cryotherapy].

Hermann J.

Z Rheumatol. 2009 Sep;68(7):539-41. Review. German.



[Neuroprotection in perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Effective treatment and future perspectives].

Legido A, Valencia I, Katsetos CD, Delivoria-Papadopoulos M.

Medicina (B Aires). 2007;67(6 Pt 1):543-55. Review. Spanish.




[Neuroprotection with hypothermia for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in term newborn: review of the learning].

Debillon T, Cantagrel S, Zupan-Simunek V, Gressens P.

Arch Pediatr. 2008 Feb;15(2):157-61. Epub 2008 Jan 16. Review. French.



Cooling for newborns with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.

Jacobs S, Hunt R, Tarnow-Mordi W, Inder T, Davis P.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD003311. Review.



A systematic review of cooling for neuroprotection in neonates with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy - are we there yet?

Schulzke SM, Rao S, Patole SK.

BMC Pediatr. 2007 Sep 5;7:30. Review.



Cerebrovascular dysfunction is an attractive target for therapy in heat stroke.

Chen SH, Niu KC, Lin MT.

Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2006 Aug;33(8):663-72. Review.



Hypothermic neuroprotection.

Gunn AJ, Thoresen M.

NeuroRx. 2006 Apr;3(2):154-69. Review.



Therapeutic hypothermia: from lab to NICU.

Gunn AJ, Battin M, Gluckman PD, Gunn TR, Bennet L.

J Perinat Med. 2005;33(4):340-6. Review.

 

[Jones]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

There seems to be some connections between the results that may be gained using Cryogenic Chamber Therapy and the 'Biosensor' or 'Superdog' program developed by the military.

http://breedingbetterdogs.com/pdfFiles/articles/early_neurological_stimulation_en.pdf
(The journal article can be requested by email here: http://breedingbetterdogs.com/articles.php)

In the Biosensor program, thermal stimulation, or cooling of the body is only one of the stimulations used. Others are tickling the feet and placing the body in unusual orientations.

Some interesting snippets:

Surprising as it may seem, it isn't capacity that explains the differences that exist between individuals because most seem to have far more capacity than they will ever use. The differences that exist between individuals seem to be related to something else. The ones who achieve and out perform others seem to have within themselves the ability to use hidden resources. In other words, it's what they are able to do with what they have that makes the difference.

In many animal-breeding programs the entire process of selection and management is founded on the belief that performance is inherited. Attempts to analyze the genetics of performance in a systematic way have involved some distinguished names such as Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. But it has only been in recent decades that good estimates of heritability of performance have been based on adequate data. Cunningham (1991) in his study of horses found that only by using Timeform data, and measuring groups of half brothers and half sisters could good estimates of performance be determined. His data shows that performance for speed is about 35% heritable. In other words only about 35% of all the variation that is observed in track performance is controlled by heritable factors, the remaining 65% are attributable to other influences, such as training, management and nutrition. Cunningham's work while limited to horses provides a good basis for understanding how much breeders can attribute to the genetics and the pedigrees.

Benefits of Stimulation

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises. The benefits noted were:

1. Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress and
5. Greater resistance to disease.

In tests of learning, stimulated pups were found to be more active and were more exploratory than their non- stimulated littermates over which they were dominant in competitive situations. Secondary effects were also noted regarding test performance. In simple problem solving tests using detours in a maze, the non-stimulated pups became extremely aroused, wined a great deal, and made many errors. Their stimulated littermates were less disturbed or upset by test conditions and when comparisons were made, the stimulated littermates were more calm in the test environment, made fewer errors and gave only an occasional distress when stressed.