Cryotherapy, or cold treatment

It has long been known that lower temperatures are an effective way to treat many ailments and discomforts. Cryotherapy is an example of cryotherapy. There are two types: local cryotherapy, known as cryodestruction, and whole-body cryotherapy.

Cold treatment has been known since ancient times, used as a method for swelling, bleeding, and pain relief. The ancients used cool places in caves and ice packs for this purpose. The first cryo-chamber in the world was established in 1978 in Japan.

Cryotherapy is a treatment involving local or whole-body cooling using liquid nitrogen or so-called dry ice, causing deliberate destruction of pathological tissues. The action of cold forces a positive reaction from the body, which for many years has been accustomed to various infections, inflammations, and inflammatory conditions. During the procedure, nerve endings are blocked by cold, and the production of beta-endorphins is increased, so the patient does not feel pain.

Cryotherapy reduces swelling by accelerating metabolism and improving the elimination of metabolic products while intensifying the flow in the lymphatic vessels. After freezing treatments, muscle strength and the patient's psyche improve significantly by enhancing mood and relieving fatigue. Whole-body low-temperature treatments facilitate the biological renewal of the body, shorten recovery time, speed up skin shedding, and activate lymph flow in subcutaneous tissue.

Treatment with low temperatures is mainly used in rheumatology, orthopedics, neurology, for treating burns, inflammation of veins, and varicose veins. During whole-body cryotherapy, the initial session lasts only a minute, and each subsequent one lasts 3 minutes. Prior acclimatization in the antechamber, where the temperature does not exceed -50 degrees Celsius, is necessary. After the session, kinesiotherapy, a set of exercises supervised by a physiotherapist, should be performed for about 20-30 minutes.

Cryotherapy treatments can be used for joint inflammation (rheumatoid, juvenile chronic, reactive, psoriatic, ankylosing spondylitis), inflammatory joint changes of metabolic origin - gout, chronic cervical spine inflammation, painful shoulder syndrome, periarticular tendon inflammation, joint capsule, and muscle, fibromyalgia syndrome (rheumatic diseases of soft tissues), dislocation and sprain of traumatic joints, damage to the meniscus, tendon, and muscle tears, combating chronic and pathological pain (conservative method), combating reflex and central muscle spasticity in neurological rehabilitation, acute and chronic sports and postoperative injuries.

Cryotherapy should not be used in cryoglobulinemia, cryofibrinogenemia, paroxysmal hemoglobinuria, purulent-gangrenous skin lesions, sympathetic neuropathy, agammaglobulinemia, sympathetic nervous system diseases, hypothyroidism, severe anemia, certain drug use, alcohol consumption, exhaustion and hypothermia of the body, cold intolerance, advanced atherosclerosis, cancer, Prinzmetal's syndrome, presence of local frostbite, skin damage.

Liquid nitrogen is also used by surgeons and dermatologists to perform bloodless and virtually painless procedures without secondary infections. In beauty salons, it is used for removing warts (seborrheic, common, flat), fibroids, hemangiomas, corns, keloids, acne scars, excess fat tissue, cellulite, and erythema multiforme.