Cryotherapy

[TAZ]

Anyone have any experience with cryotherapy? Ive done some reading and it seems like it might could work to alleviate some chronic aches and such due to inflammation. I have a messed up left ankle, no right ACL, banged up left MCL, arthritis in the left knee, couple of compressed disks, torn anterior labrum and a bunch of other smaller injuries from my younger days. All of that means that after exercise I am finding that I need to do more and more icing or popping NSAIDs or both to manage symptoms. I am wondering if something like cryotherapy could help with managing inflammation more efficiently or help minimize the NSAID need. Any words of wisdom are appreciated.

[travistheone]

I am interested in this as well. I have been offered a free treatment or so at the new local place.

top athletes love it (they also don't pay for it).

[Inkslinger]

It's all fun and games until you're frozen solid.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxne...amber.amp.html

[TAZ]

It's all fun and games until you're frozen solid.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxne...amber.amp.html

Yikes. Suicide by popsicle.

[Hmac]

Cryotherapy in its current implementation is in the province of homeopathy - no peer-reviewed or Level 1 evidence of efficacy in amelioration of the process of degenerative arthritis. It's just a theoretically more effective delivery of ice packs. Like RICE, it will temporarily reduce inflammation and swelling while applied. Best suited toward acute inflammation. It won't be helpful for chronic inflammation because that's not an underlying injury that will heal. Likewise won't decrease your reliance on NSAIDS, which is really the only way of managing chronic inflammation, especially from something like degenerative joint disease. As to your back....also true, although you might investigate epidural steroid injections to manage that problem.

Cryotherapy likely won't hurt you though. I say go for it. The only thing you have to lose is time and money.

[WillBrink]

Anyone have any experience with cryotherapy? Ive done some reading and it seems like it might could work to alleviate some chronic aches and such due to inflammation. I have a messed up left ankle, no right ACL, banged up left MCL, arthritis in the left knee, couple of compressed disks, torn anterior labrum and a bunch of other smaller injuries from my younger days. All of that means that after exercise I am finding that I need to do more and more icing or popping NSAIDs or both to manage symptoms. I am wondering if something like cryotherapy could help with managing inflammation more efficiently or help minimize the NSAID need. Any words of wisdom are appreciated.

Besides ice and NSAIDs, what else are you doing? Here's a paper from 2014, so there may be more recent. Conclusion seems to be, some studies suggest possible benefits, but conclusive data yet to exist. I don't have any personal experience with it. As far as I can tell, shouldn't do you any harm if you wanna try it but seems other far better supported options out there. Hell, a weekly deep tissue sports massage can do wonders, as can yoga, mobility work, some anti inflammatory supps have shown promise, etc, and I always advise a hormonal panel be done depending on age, and other factors. Even acupuncture has better data than cryo and I found 10 sessions very helpful for some elbow tendinitis I had.

Whole-body cryotherapy: empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives

Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) involves short exposures to air temperatures below −100°C. WBC is increasingly accessible to athletes, and is purported to enhance recovery after exercise and facilitate rehabilitation postinjury. Our objective was to review the efficacy and effectiveness of WBC using empirical evidence from controlled trials. We found ten relevant reports; the majority were based on small numbers of active athletes aged less than 35 years.

Although WBC produces a large temperature gradient for tissue cooling, the relatively poor thermal conductivity of air prevents significant subcutaneous and core body cooling. There is weak evidence from controlled studies that WBC enhances antioxidant capacity and parasympathetic reactivation, and alters inflammatory pathways relevant to sports recovery. A series of small randomized studies found WBC offers improvements in subjective recovery and muscle soreness following metabolic or mechanical overload, but little benefit towards functional recovery. There is evidence from one study only that WBC may assist rehabilitation for adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder.

There were no adverse events associated with WBC; however, studies did not seem to undertake active surveillance of predefined adverse events. Until further research is available, athletes should remain cognizant that less expensive modes of cryotherapy, such as local ice-pack application or cold-water immersion, offer comparable physiological and clinical effects to WBC.

Full paper:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3956737/

[TAZ]

Thanks for the info. I've done PT for both the ACL and labrum tears which helped stabilize the joints. I've shied away from the knife. I still do the PT routines a few days to keep up stability. Ironically the knee with the working ACLis the biggest PITA. Obviously I spent decades compensating for the torn other knee and wore that puppy down. I've done massage, but not on a regular basis, more as an acute I've got knots, strains and such. Will look into that as I have access to a massage therapist at work. Haven't tried acupuncture. Yoga aggravates my knee pain to the point I can't walk the next day. Yes, I've had instructors watching my form to no avail. Can't figure that out. But the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Haven't had a hormone panel, but am due for a physical in the next week so I will ask.

Honestly, my goal is to minimize NSAID use. I'm only 47 so I kind of need my kidneys for a few more decades while still being able to play and have fun with my son.

[Digital_Damage]

stick to a tub full of ice for post workout stuff.

This is not going to fix damage or long term injury.

[WillBrink]

Thanks for the info. I've done PT for both the ACL and labrum tears which helped stabilize the joints. I've shied away from the knife. I still do the PT routines a few days to keep up stability. Ironically the knee with the working ACLis the biggest PITA. Obviously I spent decades compensating for the torn other knee and wore that puppy down. I've done massage, but not on a regular basis, more as an acute I've got knots, strains and such. Will look into that as I have access to a massage therapist at work. Haven't tried acupuncture. Yoga aggravates my knee pain to the point I can't walk the next day. Yes, I've had instructors watching my form to no avail. Can't figure that out. But the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Haven't had a hormone panel, but am due for a physical in the next week so I will ask.

Honestly, my goal is to minimize NSAID use. I'm only 47 so I kind of need my kidneys for a few more decades while still being able to play and have fun with my son.

Some good motivation for that:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use is associated with increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a nationwide case–time–control study

Aims

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used and have been associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Nonetheless, it remains unknown whether use of NSAIDs is associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).
Methods and results

From the nationwide Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry, all persons with OHCA during 2001–10 were identified. NSAID use 30 days before OHCA was categorized as follows: diclofenac, naproxen, ibuprofen, rofecoxib, celecoxib, and other. Risk of OHCA associated with use of NSAIDs was analysed by conditional logistic regression in case–time–control models matching four controls on sex and age per case to account for variation in drug utilization over time. We identified 28 947 persons with OHCA of whom 3376 were treated with an NSAID up to 30 days before OHCA. Ibuprofen and diclofenac were the most commonly used NSAIDs and represented 51.0% and 21.8% of total NSAID use, respectively. Use of diclofenac (odds ratio [OR], 1.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–1.82]) and ibuprofen [OR, 1.31 (95% CI 1.14–1.51)] was associated with a significantly increased risk of OHCA. Use of naproxen [OR, 1.29 (95% CI 0.77–2.16)], celecoxib [OR, 1.13 (95% CI 0.74–1.70)], and rofecoxib (OR, 1.28 [95% CI 0.74–1.70)] was not significantly associated with increased risk of OHCA; however, these groups were characterized by few events.

Conclusion

Use of non-selective NSAIDs was associated with an increased early risk of OHCA. The result was driven by an increased risk of OHCA in ibuprofen and diclofenac users.

Full Paper:

https://academic.oup.com/ehjcvp/arti...ry-drug-use-is

[Hmac]

Some good motivation for that:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use is associated with increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a nationwide case–time–control study

Aims

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used and have been associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Nonetheless, it remains unknown whether use of NSAIDs is associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).
Methods and results

From the nationwide Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry, all persons with OHCA during 2001–10 were identified. NSAID use 30 days before OHCA was categorized as follows: diclofenac, naproxen, ibuprofen, rofecoxib, celecoxib, and other. Risk of OHCA associated with use of NSAIDs was analysed by conditional logistic regression in case–time–control models matching four controls on sex and age per case to account for variation in drug utilization over time. We identified 28 947 persons with OHCA of whom 3376 were treated with an NSAID up to 30 days before OHCA. Ibuprofen and diclofenac were the most commonly used NSAIDs and represented 51.0% and 21.8% of total NSAID use, respectively. Use of diclofenac (odds ratio [OR], 1.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–1.82]) and ibuprofen [OR, 1.31 (95% CI 1.14–1.51)] was associated with a significantly increased risk of OHCA. Use of naproxen [OR, 1.29 (95% CI 0.77–2.16)], celecoxib [OR, 1.13 (95% CI 0.74–1.70)], and rofecoxib (OR, 1.28 [95% CI 0.74–1.70)] was not significantly associated with increased risk of OHCA; however, these groups were characterized by few events.

Conclusion

Use of non-selective NSAIDs was associated with an increased early risk of OHCA. The result was driven by an increased risk of OHCA in ibuprofen and diclofenac users.

Full Paper:

https://academic.oup.com/ehjcvp/arti...ry-drug-use-is

In my mind, that paper is suspect. Previous studies have not indicated similar results. Additionally, they depend on tracking prescriptions and even then can't get an accurate handle on dosage, and finally, they had no way of accounting for OTC ibuprofen.