Whole-body Cryotherapy, which essentially means “cold treatment,” maybe a procedure that exposes the body to temperatures colder than negative 200degrees F for 2 to 4 minutes. While it has been wont to treat conditions like MS and atrophic arthritis in Japan since the late 1970s, it’s only been utilized in Western countries for the past few decades, primarily to alleviate muscle soreness for elite athletes, consistent with a 2015 Cochrane review of 4 studies.
“While it looks like there might be some beneficial outcomes from it, this does not seem to be a breakthrough technology innovation that’s getting to change medicine,” says Dr. Hallie Zwibel, director of medicine at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine on Long Island. “At now, it seems to be an adjunctive sort of treatment.”
Potential Cryotherapy Benefits
Purported cryotherapy benefits include:
- Muscle and joint pain relief
- Weight loss
- Younger-looking skin
- Better mood and energy
- Muscle and Joint Pain Relief
If you have ever iced a twisted ankle or sore shoulders, you’ve treated yourself to a sort of Cryotherapy that works. Applying cold to an injury for quarter-hour at a time, three to fourfold each day is “highly effective,” says Jon Schriner, a fellow of the American College of medicine who’s based in Michigan. But the advantages of doing that to your whole body are less established.
WBC proved to injure skin
While the advantages of using WBC (Whole body cryotherapy) to treat sore muscles and diseases remain unproven, there’s evidence that the acute cold can injure your skin.
Reported skin injuries thanks to WBC include:
- Frostbite
- A frozen limb
- Rashes
Infrared Saunas
Like many new wellness trends, the ir sauna promises a laundry list of health benefits from weight loss and improved circulation to pain relief and, therefore, the removal of poisons from the body.
An infrared sauna may be a sort of sauna that uses light to make heat. This sort of sauna is usually called a far-infrared sauna “far” describes where the infrared waves fall on the sunshine spectrum. A standard sauna uses heat to warm the air, which successively warms your body. An infrared sauna heats your body directly without warming the air around you.
Several studies have checked out using infrared saunas within the treatment of chronic health problems, like a high vital sign, congestive coronary failure, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, headache, type 2 diabetes, and atrophic arthritis, and located some evidence of benefit. However, more extensive and more-rigorous studies are needed to verify these results. A number of these studies were also performed with patients using the traditional sauna.
On the opposite hand, no adverse effects are reported with infrared saunas. So if you’re considering trying a sauna for relaxation, an infrared sauna could be an option.
Benefits
The supposed benefits of using an infrared sauna are almost like those experienced with a standard sauna. These include:
- better sleep
- relaxation
- detoxification
- weight loss
- relief from sore muscles
- relief from joint pain like arthritis
- clear and tighter skin
- improved circulation
- help for people with chronic fatigue syndrome
People are using saunas for hundreds of years for all kinds of health conditions. While there are several studies and research on traditional saunas, there aren’t as many studies that look specifically at infrared saunas:
- A small 10-person study trusted Source found that folks with chronic fatigue syndrome benefited from using an infrared sauna as a part of an overall treatment.
- Another 10-person study trusted Source found that infrared saunas helped decrease muscle soreness and increase recovery from strength-training sessions.
- According to at least one review, several studies have found that infrared therapy saunas may help reduce vital signs.
Floatation Tank
A floatation tank may be a lightless, soundless tank crammed with highly concentrated Epsom saltwater heated to skin temperature. Floatation, also referred to as sensory deprivation, is just the act of relaxing during a floatation tank, with all sights and sounds removed, and drifting into a meditative state that rejuvenates your mind and body.
A Tank of the many Names
The confusion around floatation and flotation tanks are a minimum of partially thanks to the evolving naming conventions of the containers. Containers are often referred to as an isolation tank, sensory deprivation tank, sensory deprivation tank, flotation tank, float pod, and even a sensory attenuation tank.
Floating – The Science
Floating is achieved by adding a high concentration of Epsom salts to the water. Very similar to within the Dead Sea, this raises the density and buoyancy of the water.
Float tanks will use around 1000 liters of water and 550 kg of magnesium and sulfate-rich Epsom salts, thereby increasing the precise gravity for the answer to approximately 1.27.
It is this alteration to the density that adds buoyancy to the water and allows a flotation tank user to float.
Benefits
Relieve stress– Excess adrenaline and fear are believed to empty magnesium, a natural stress reliever, from the body. Magnesium helps bind serotonin, the happy hormone!
Relaxation– Elevates chemicals within the brain that works to make sense of well-being and relaxation.
Migraines– Eases and prevents migraine headaches.
Detoxification– Flushes toxins and heavy metals from the cells within the body. This successively helps ease muscle pain and filter out harmful substances picked up from our modern environment.
Diabetes– Improved insulin sensitivity aids blood sugar control, which may aid in the prevention or severity of diabetes.
Heart Health– Improves heart and circulatory health. They are preventing the hardening of the arteries, blood clots, and lowering overall vital signs.
Bone health– Magnesium helps assimilate calcium into the bones.
Better still, when employing a float tank, the magnesium is absorbed through the skin. Therefore the body optimizes the amount of magnesium, so there’s no chance of magnesium levels become too high, which may be dangerous.
Sports Massage
Sports massage may be a systematic manipulation of the soft tissues of the body that focuses on muscles relevant to a specific sport. Runner Paavo Nurmi referred to as the “Flying Finn,” was one among the first users of sports massage. Nurmi is claimed to possess used sports massage during the 1924 Olympics in Paris, where he won five gold medals. Jack Meagher is assumed to be the daddy of sports massage within us.
Many different movements and techniques are utilized in sports massage. Samples of these techniques include; Swedish style massage, effleurage (stroking), petrissage (kneading), compression, friction, tapotement (rhythmic striking), vibration, gliding, stretching, percussion, and trigger points. These movements and techniques are wont to attempt to help the athlete’s body achieve maximum performance and physical conditioning with a decreased chance of injury or pain and a quicker recovery.
Benefits
Many benefits from sports massage are reported by supported experience and observation. Some are beneficial to the mind (psychological) and a few to the body (physiological).
Some of the reported benefits of sports massage include:
- Increased joint range of motion (ROM)
- Increased flexibility
- Increased sense of well-being
- Decreased muscle tension
- Decreased neurological excitability (nerves more relaxed)
- Decreased muscle spasms
- Better sleep
Purported benefits that aren’t supported by research include:
- Increased blood flow
- Increased elimination of exercise waste products (lactic acid)
- Decreased chance of injury
- Reduced recovery time between workouts