Cryotherapy for athletes is not a new concept, but as the technology gets more sophisticated it is easier -- and more comfortable -- to use cold therapy for both injury recovery and after workouts to relieve pain and inflammation. Although some athletes use whole-body cryotherapy chambers to drop the temperature of the entire body, many prefer to use the targeted therapy that a cold therapy device delivers. With the additional benefit of active compression, a cold therapy device allows athletes to recover more quickly.
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Cryotherapy for athletes has multiple different variations, but when most people hear the term they envision a football player grimacing while lowering himself into a bath of ice water, or a basketball player walking into a cryogenic chamber ensconced in frigid vapor. Fortunately for athletes, a more comfortable, and arguably more effective, alternative exists: localized cryotherapy.
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Athletes can suffer a broad range of injuries throughout their careers including sprains, strains, ACL tears, rotator cuff damage, and more. At the extreme end of the spectrum, an injury might require surgery and can potentially end a career if not treated properly. On the other hand, minor injuries happen all the time and might keep an athlete off the practice field for a few weeks or months.
Cold (cryo) therapy is widely used after a musculoskeletal injury or post-surgery to decrease pain, muscle spasms, edema and swelling. Let’s say you’ve had an ankle or knee injury. You know the drill – get in bed or on the couch, elevate the leg and apply ice to the injured area. You also remember the mess and inconvenience this kind of ice water therapy causes – wet pillows, bedclothes, blankets, etc. Staying compliant with that type of cold therapy is really difficult and that’s just one reason why ice water therapy alone isn’t ideal for recovering from a sports injury.
Thanks to surgical and physical therapy advances over recent years, rotator cuff surgery recovery won't keep you off the job or out of the gym as long as it once did. Rotator cuff tears are not uncommon in adults and are usually caused by acute trauma or repetitive overhead work such as painters or construction workers might perform. Once your physician diagnoses a tear and recommends surgery, you'll need to plan for a period of post-operative physical therapy. How long that therapy last depends on several factors:
