Cryogenic Gas Therapy for Athlete Recovery
February is the month of the Winter Olympics and all eyes have been on the athletes as they perform impressive feats of strength. People watching the athletes may have no idea the multiple years of training the athletes prepare for the games nor the recovery routine they use to stay in peak condition.
You may have heard of cryotherapy and how athletes have been using it to reduce their post-workout recovery. Some of the common uses of cryotherapy are to accelerate muscle recovery, boost immune systems and to decrease inflamed joints. It’s no wonder they call it the “cold cure”.
The Cryotherapy Process
In order for you to get a better sense of cryotherapy effects on the body, we will explore how the process works. When an athlete is looking to decrease recovery time, he or she visits a cryotherapy center to get started.
Most cryotherapy centers have a chamber that athletes enter to experience the body numbing effects from the liquid nitrogen gas. Liquid nitrogen is pumped from a cryogenic tank and turned into gas as it reaches the chamber, cooling the air temperatures down to -300 degrees Fahrenheit. Because cryotherapy is a hyper-cooling process, it will lower the external skin temperature to about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to the supervised, controlled, and limited exposure of liquid nitrogen gas, the athlete won’t experience frostbite or hypothermia.
While the athlete stands in the frigid chamber for 3 minutes, receptors send signals alerting the brain that the body is freezing. When the body is exposed to the extremely cold temperatures of liquid nitrogen gas, the nervous system goes into “survival mode” triggering blood to travel to all the major organs to protect them from the cold. After stepping out of the chamber at the end of the treatment, the body returns to normal temperature, releasing nutrients, anti-inflammatories and endorphins into the “problem areas.” This process is called vasodilation, which is a widening of the blood vessels increasing oxygen-rich blood flow & accelerating the healing process. Many athletes swear by the positive effects of cryotherapy and incorporate it into their intense training.
Conclusion
If you are a cryogenic facility or center, Air Source Industries can provide you with liquid nitrogen gases you need to run your business. We work with multiple cryo-centers in the area and have the expertise to safely transport large cryo cylinders to your office. Please contact our gas experts at (562) 426-4017 or get a cryo gas quote today.
Sources:
http://rmi.rmimfg.com/ratermann-blog/cryotherapy
https://www.honeycolony.com/article/6-benefits-of-cryotherapy-for-the-body-and-soul/
http://www.chillcryo.net/blog/cryotherapy-works-on-the-same-science-as-vaccines/