Trying Out Cryotherapy

I love coming to AZ for so many reason. Whenever I am with my mom and sisters we seem to end up talking about health and fitness. My sister Nichole is the one who I am going to run the Utah Valley Marathon with, so we are ALWAYS trading training tips and discussing what works and doesn't work for us. Nichole goes to a doctor at Integrative Health in Scottsdale that offers whole body Cryotherapy. 

I have heard of athletes using Cryotherapy, but I've never known much about it. It is a cooling treatment method where you stand inside a CryoSauna chamber and you are sprayed with nitrogen. Your core stays warm, and the nitrogen chills your skin, joints, and muscles. Basically, it is like the extreme version of taking an ice bath. It is actually ten times more beneficial than an ice bath. This is the CryoSauna chamber that you stand in.

 And your head pokes out up here...

 My cute sister posed in front of it for me, so you could see what the inside of the chamber looks like.

You have to strip down to your birthday suit, and some socks to keep your feet warm, and then you stand inside this chamber for three, very chilly minutes. I was shivering by the time the three minutes were over. I, of course, asked about a million questions about it while I was there to learn as much about this procedure as possible. The woman who was giving me the treatment told me that they work with a lot of the Cardinals football players, and the Diamondbacks baseball players to keep them in the best shape possible, and injury free. She also said they used to work with the Suns players, but they now have their own CryoSauna for their team. Some of their other patients are runners, cyclists, individuals who suffer from chronic pain, and individuals with arthritis. They also claim that cryotherapy is beneficial towards speeding up metabolism, increasing energy levels, improving skin, and raising endorphins. Because the sauna drops the body temperature so low, the body works extremely hard to raise it back up. This work is a calorie burner. The woman helping me told me that one treatment burns about 800 calories. It would be interesting to wear an exerspy or a body bug while doing a treatment to see what the burn equates to.

Like I have said before, I love learning about new methods of treatment! It was fun to try something different, and I'm interested to see how my joints are going to feel on my run tomorrow morning. My sister and I were saying how awesome it would be to be able to do a treatment right after a long run, or a race to aid in recovery! Maybe one day when I'm rich and famous I'll get one for my own house ;) Don't worry...I won't hold my breath there. Thanks Nich, for letting me try something new!

Have you ever heard of Cryotherapy? Have you ever used Cryotherapy before? Do you take ice baths or ice your joints after intense workouts?