Photo by Emily Featherston.
Christina Camp demonstrates the cryotherapy process while Kelsey Berg operates the chamber.
As the technician opened the door, thin white smoke drifted from the chamber toward the floor. A young woman, wrapped in a crisp white robe, thick socks, insulated slippers and ski-worthy gloves, stepped inside and prepared to be super-cooled.
Sounds like a scene from a science-fiction movie, but it’s not.
It’s a common sight at Glacier Cryotherapy inside Anytime Fitness on U.S. 31.
“It’s just a new-age form of cold therapy,” owner Morgan Smith said.
Whole Body Cryotherapy (WBC) is the process of exposing the legs and torso to temperatures of about minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit using super-cooled nitrogen vapor.
This can be done individually in an open-top chamber that keeps the head and neck free, as it is at Glacier, or in a closed setting that requires a gas mask.
The idea, Smith and others say, is to oxygenate the blood, release “happy” chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine and reduce inflammation in the body.
“Those are the main reasons you’re going to see an athlete use it is for the inflammation, the muscle recovery and for the melatonin levels,” Smith said, adding that users commonly report sleeping better after a session.
Smith likened the process to the common ice-bath, but in a much shorter time period.
Each session at Glacier lasts three minutes, and depending on what level the customer is cooled to, can reach anywhere from minus-200 degrees to just under minus-300 degrees.
For safety, Glacier’s chamber must be operated by a technician at all times, with 30-second alarms that will automatically shut off the chamber if not cleared.
Mitch Ross, one of Glacier’s certified technicians — who has done more than 150 WBC sessions — agreed with Smith that the process is better than other cold-therapy methods.
“This is a shocking three minutes to the skin, but it’s way more enjoyable than an ice bath and it takes a lot less time,” he said.
Is it comfortable? No, Ross said, but the results he has seen make him think it’s worth it.
“It’s three minutes of hell to feel like heaven,” he said.
Glacier Cryotherapy has been in Vestavia Hills for a little under a year, and Smith said he has both customers that simply want to see what all the hype is about as well as regular customers who come seeking pain relief.
Ross said he has clients with chronic pain as well as athletes recovering from a difficult workout who have reported improvement.
Kelsey Berg and Christina Camp both recently started using WBC, and said they enjoyed it so much they are training with Smith to become technicians.
“I hadn’t really heard of it before,” Camp said. “But my degree is in health science, so it’s the type of thing that interests me.”
Camp, a friend of Smith’s, said she had been considering trying WBC for a while, but was finally persuaded when she was having trouble with pain in her back.
“After that first session I did, I noticed a difference with my back,” she said. “It seemed to alleviate some of the pain.”
Berg, who also has a degree in exercise science, said she heard about WBC when watching “Good Morning America,” and decided to try it.
Berg broke her knee two years ago and said she still experiences problems with it while exercising, but she said she thinks WBC is helping.
“I like to do it after working out,” she said. “I can tell a difference in the gym.”
Whole Body Cryotherapy, while new to many in the United States, has been used in Europe and Japan for decades. However, there has not been significant scientific research done on its effects on the body, beneficial or otherwise.
In July, the Food and Drug Administration released a consumer update regarding its concerns with the practice, citing there was no scientific evidence that cryotherapy provides the health benefits many of its users claim. The FDA also expressed concern for possible side effects, as little research has been done to establish what effects exposure to minus-300-degree temperatures does to the human body.
Smith and the others at Glacier openly acknowledge the lack of FDA approval, and encourage their clients to consult with a physician if they have health concerns.
This especially applies to those with known heart conditions, as the process is said to cause capillary swelling and other blood-vessel dilation.
Camp, too, said she acknowledges people who haven’t experienced WBC would have reservations about the process.
“I know a lot of people are kind of skeptical,” Camp said. “I definitely think research does need to be done on it.”
But with the possible benefits, she said, to her, it’s worth it.
“I think that anything that could potentially reduce inflammation in your body is worth giving it a shot,” Camp said.
