Originally intended to top athletes, in order to prevent or treat muscle pain after exercise, cryotherapy is now offered to patients suffering from inflammatory or neurological diseases. This technique, called “whole body cryotherapy”, exposes the body for 2 to 3 minutes to intense cold ranging from -110 to -170°C. It is supposed to cause the secretion of anti-inflammatory molecules to reduce inflammation and pain.
To respond to a request from the Directorate General for Health on the health benefits of so-called non-conventional medicines, Inserm researchers analyzed all the clinical studies published on the subject. They just released their findings in a new report. “Overall, the results are disappointing. On the one hand, when they are in favor of a
positive effect of cryotherapy, these results are modest and measured only in the very short term. On the other hand, the methodological quality of the studies leaves much to be desired, which should lead to all the more relativizing the positive effects reported” write the authors.
Non-trivial side effects
The researchers also explain that cryotherapy is not devoid of side effects: local 1st or 2nd degree burns, headaches or accentuation of the pain present, chronic cold urticaria, cold panniculitis (an inflammation of fatty tissue due to cold ) and digestive intolerances. Several cases of amnesic stroke (transient amnesia that can last a few hours) have also been reported. “In such a context, it is easy to understand how essential it is to better evaluate whole body cryotherapy before deciding on its effectiveness”.
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