Cryotherapy has been an intriguing new trend in the sports science world as teams and athletes are using the Han-Solo-like-technology in pursuit of a deep freeze that “resets” the body and dramatically helps the recovery process.
Today, the Miami Marlins are the latest team to go all in on the sub-freezing science and have added a state-of-the-art whole body cryotherapy chamber to their training and recovery options for players. They will be using a chamber from Atlanta-based Impact Cryotherapy, which is a leading American-designed and American-manufactured cryotherapy system.
“Baseball players have an exceptionally tough season, often with daily demands on their bodies,” said Richard E. Otto, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Impact Cryotherapy. “The ability to recover quicker and play harder gives a player, and his team, an extraordinary advantage.”
In order for a Marlins player to use cryotherapy they will stand inside the Impact Cryotherapy’s patent-pending, octagonal-shaped chamber during treatment on an adjustable platform, while having their heads outside the chamber. The Impact Cryotherapy chamber is filled with nitrogen vapor, which drops the temperature to a range of (minus) – 120°C to -140°C and temporarily lowers the temperature of the skin’s top layer. Stints in the chamber will last no more than three minutes and once the player exits the chamber their body naturally begins to reheat.
Extreme cold is an age old treatment for inflammation and cryotherapy simply uses technology to improve upon traditional uses of applied ice or a full body ice bath. According to Impact Cryotherapy, the 1970s in Japan, cryotherapy treatments were used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and that spread to Europe, which developed the whole body cryotherapy systems in use today.
We fully expect to see many more teams and athletes adopt cryotherapy as a go-to tool to aid the recovery process and keep the body as fresh as possible throughout long seasons.