A recently published scientific research article has highlighted the beneficial use of whole-body cryotherapy for sufferers of fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a debilitating condition that causes extreme tiredness and widespread pain across the body as well as consequences on the mental health and quality of life for sufferers.
While it is not yet known exactly why fibromyalgia occurs, it is thought there could be several causative factors such as a chemical imbalance in the body, genetics, abnormal pain messages to the brain or strong emotional triggers which could include, for example, the loss of a loved one.
Recent, clinical trials have, however, found evidence that the condition is associated with irregular levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. According to the NHS website, estimates suggest that nearly 1 in 20 people may be affected by the conditions to some degree. Sadly, there is no cure for the condition, but the symptoms can be managed.
Whole Body Cryotherapy involves exposing the body to temperatures as low as -130°C for a period of up to 3 minutes. The therapy is delivered in a specially designed cryogenic chamber where the air is supercooled, and users stand in the chamber under the guidance of a trained operator. The whole-body cryotherapy sessions can be taken at regular intervals over a period of weeks.
The study concluded that serial whole body cryotherapy sessions are a fast-acting and effective treatment for suffers from fibromyalgia. When compared with a healthy control group, fibromyalgia patients showed notably different cytokine levels and reported a significant reduction in pain and disease activity after three and six whole body cryotherapy sessions.
It’s believed that an alteration in cytokine levels accounts for the reported benefits and that the changes in cytokine levels occur as the direct result of the patients’ exposure to the extreme cold, thereby establishing whole body cryotherapy as a fast-acting and effective, and much-needed treatment for fibromyalgia.
The research involved 23 fibromyalgia sufferers and 30 healthy controls participating in six sessions of whole-body cryotherapy at -130 °C. The research was conducted by:
Phillip Klemm – Department of Rheumatology, Immunology, Osteology and Physical Medicine, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Campus Kerckhoff, Bad Nauheim, Germany
Johanna Becker, Iris Aykara, Gabriel Dischereit, Elena Neumann , Ulf Müller-Ladner , & Uwe Lange – Department of Rheumatology, Immunology, Osteology and Physical Medicine, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Campus Kerckhoff, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Thomas Asendorf – Department of Medical Statistics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
