Read more: 鈥�Olympic extremes: The winning formulas for London 2012鈥�
FOR years, sportsmen and women have been sticking ice packs on injuries to numb the pain and slow inflammation. The latest craze in the world of sports cooling, or cryotherapy as it is known, is to shut athletes in a room and blast them with air set to teeth-chattering temperatures as low as -160 掳C. Such cryochambers are used by the Welsh rugby union team to speed recovery after intense training sessions.
One aim of cryotherapy is to slow down metabolism in injured muscle tissue. After an injury, an initial rush of blood to the damaged site is followed by a disruption in blood flow, which causes local cells to die. The thinking is that cryotherapy protects against this process by slowing down the action of the immune system鈥檚 chemical messengers, says , a sports scientist at the University of Ulster in the UK.
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There are even claims that those who dip into icy waters every so often are more resilient to infections. 鈥淭here is a degree of evidence that people who undergo cold water immersion may be less susceptible to colds,鈥� says Olympic physiotherapist Phil Glasgow, of the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland.
Further evidence comes from a group based at France鈥檚 National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP) in Paris, who found that taking a cold bath after a bout of exercise could in a rowing test. The team also found that alternating between warm and cold water was more effective than cold water alone.
