TRIED & TESTED recovery time, reduced pain and inflammation, increased energy levels and strength, as well as improved blood circulation and sleep quality.”
It’ s a Bit
A few minutes in the Cryozone Cryotherapy Chamber at minus-120 degrees Celsius promotes faster healing and recovery after hard exercise or racing, and it really does not feel as cold as it sounds. – BY SEAN FALCONER
The coldest it gets in South Africa is at most a few degrees below freezing, and we South Africans don’ t know what real cold is … So when Willie Muller of Cryozone told me I was going to experience a temperature of minus-70 degrees for 30 seconds, then move down to minus-120 degrees for a further two and a half minutes, my mind simply couldn’ t grasp what that meant. And to be honest, it was a bit frightening stepping into the cryotherapy chamber, but once inside I soon realised it really isn’ t that bad. For a few minutes at a time...
The outer chamber is not an acclimatisation period, it is to cool you down so that your body temperature does not warm the inner chamber too much, and to make sure the really cold air in the second chamber doesn’ t escape when you open the doors to go in. As Willie explains,“ the quicker you get into the coldest air, the more you will experience the benefits of cryotherapy, so we want you to get into the second chamber quickly, but without the chamber being warmed.”
Shock to the System
Let me tell you, those two and a half minutes seem to take forever! The digital countdown clock inside the chamber seems to taunt you, until you rather focus on the music and moving with the beat, while trying not to make big movements with your arms and legs. Moving helps you to keep some warmth in your limbs, but also causes further wind chill in the super-cold air. You find yourself focussing on those parts of your body that you know require healing or recovery – in my case it was my quads, which were tight after a hard run two days earlier. Meanwhile, I was sucking in deep breaths through a protective mouth and nose mask, willing the time to pass quicker.
It helps that you can see Willie through the observation window and converse with him, so you don’ t feel cut off or claustrophobic, but when he says time is up, the sense of relief is immense. Now here’ s the interesting thing: You immediately recover and start to warm up, with barely a shiver. Within a few minutes of dressing I felt perfectly normal again, not even a hint of coldness. The human body really is a wonderful thing!
Enhanced Recovery
The Cryozone Chamber is a mobile unit built into a shipping container that can be trucked to different venues. Until recently it was located at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport, where the Springbok Sevens team were regular customers, but it has recently moved to the Sport Science Institute of South Africa in Cape Town.“ We moved across to offer a walk-in environment in a busy public gym facility, to give more people access to a full 360-degree fitness environment with recovery included,” says Willie.
“ Cryotherapy was developed for people with chronic medical conditions, but it has spread to the sporting world. Within just three minutes in the chamber, an athlete can enjoy health benefits such as faster
“ When you step into the minus-120 chamber, your cold receptors send signals to your brain via the nervous system that this is a dangerous environment, so you need to protect the vital organs – the heart, lungs, kidney and brains. You immediately get vascular constriction of the veins and the blood is directed to these organs, which then allows the inflammation and lactic acid to be pulled out of your muscles. The blood is then cleaned and oxygenated by the vital organs, as well as enriched with nutrients and hormones, but the real magic happens when you walk out of the chamber. That’ s when the good quality blood goes back to the muscles. Another great thing is that oxygen molecules are packed tighter together at such low temperatures, so filling your lungs with the cold air also assists with oxygenating the blood.”
Coming to your Town …
Cryozone is in the process of launching franchise opportunities around the country, with plans for more mobile chambers that can be taken to sporting events or festivals, as well as fixed chambers in city centres such as Pretoria and Johannesburg.“ We need to create accessibility to the technology,” says Willie, adding that the company also has smaller hand-held units for use by physios, which focus cold air on an injured area. Added to that, Cryozone is an agent for Normatek compression boots, and offers a package deal of cryotherapy and compression, for a full recovery treatment with enhanced blood circulation.
For more info, go to www. cryozone. co. za, where you can book sessions and find out at which events the chamber will be available. Pricing options include R400 for a cryotherapy session, R150 for a Normatek session, R450 for a full recovery session of cryotherapy plus normatek( 20-30 minutes), while a package of 10 full sessions will cost R3000.
Images: Willie Muller
36 ISSUE 109 AUGUST 2018 / www. modernathlete. co. za