ABOUT TIDL > LATEST ARTICLES > HOW SAFE IS CRYOTHERAPY FOR SPORTS & PERFORMANCE?

HOW SAFE IS CRYOTHERAPY FOR SPORTS & PERFORMANCE?

MAY 27, 2022

The science behind cryotherapy contains many benefits for athletes. Find out more about how cryo works and how it can benefit sports performance and recovery.

How Cryotherapy Works for Sports Recovery & Performance

Anyone who puts forth the time and effort to exercise regularly wants to recover faster and perform better. Finding a way to cool down your muscles as part of your post-workout routine is the gold standard for accomplishing those goals.

While past methods to decrease inflammation and increase performance through cooling the muscles involved ice baths and cold packs, now cryotherapy offers a more comprehensive approach to workout recovery.

Through TIDL Sport, you can reap the benefits of cryotherapy without the time and expense of visiting a cryotherapy facility. Instead, TIDL Sport brings cryotherapy treatments to where they can benefit you most — the convenience of your home or gym.

What Is Cryotherapy?

Cryotherapy means “cold therapy.” The technique has been around for years as athletes reap the benefits of exposing all or part of their bodies to freezing temperatures for a few minutes.

There are several forms of cryotherapy, including the cold packs and ice baths mentioned above. In addition, whole-body cryotherapy has become a popular treatment for sports recovery.

In whole body cryotherapy (WBC), athletes can enter a cryotherapy recovery chamber wearing limited protective coverings. Then, the treatments encase the athlete in a dry mist of liquid nitrogen, dropping the chamber’s temperature down to -100 to -170 degrees celsius. An entire treatment lasts no longer than three minutes.

While WBC can be an effective treatment, it requires a safe and controlled environment. Athletes seeking the benefits of cryotherapy without the added expense of WBC treatments can see similar results from TIDL Sport’s creams and sprays.

TIDL enhances its topical cryotherapy line with optimal absorption ingredients allowing the products to penetrate deeply into the muscles, providing effective relief and recovery with each application.

What Does Cryotherapy Do?

When looking at sports performance and recovery, cryotherapy allows athletes to treat muscle and joint pain and reduce inflammation, allowing faster recovery from workouts and specific injuries.

Most injuries that include inflammation, pain, muscle spasms, and swelling use a cold therapy as the first treatment in managing pain, reducing swelling and inflammation, and numbing pain.

How Does Cryotherapy Work?

Athletes seeking cryotherapy for sports performance or recovery can benefit from either whole body or localized cryotherapy treatments. Localized cryotherapy treatments allow athletes to target specific areas.

When the cryotherapy application hits the treatment area, the blood vessels constrict, and the body’s natural healing response is triggered. Proteins like collagen that turn over cells and restore structure begin working to relieve pain and inflammation.

By targeting a localized area with cryotherapy for sports recovery, those specific areas will see many benefits, including:

  • Reducing discomfort
  • Alleviating muscle tightness
  • Increasing microcirculation
  • Promoting collagen growth
  • Endorphin boosting
  • Norepinephrine production

These cryotherapy benefits trigger further rewards. For example, the increase in endorphins activates the body’s opiate receptors, relieving pain, improving sleep, and serving as a mood booster. In addition, the increase in norepinephrine has a sedative effect, helping the muscles relax and repair.

Utilizing Cryotherapy for Sports Performance

How does cryotherapy work for sports performance? Athletes seeking less downtime, more quality training, and less pain and stiffness can find their desired results with cryotherapy.

Athletes can reap cryotherapy’s benefits both before and after their workout. For example, some athletes see higher energy levels, less muscle fatigue, and better resistance to muscle strains when applying topical cryotherapy treatments before a training session.

In addition, cryotherapy offered through ice baths and cold compresses is also a safe way to reduce inflammation and pain while recovering from workouts faster.

However, when answering the question "Is cryotherapy safe?" the answer becomes more complicated with WBC treatments.

Post-workout cryotherapy treatments can reduce pain and stiffness, increase high-quality training, and allow for less downtime. In addition, treating muscles with cryotherapy enables them to feel fresher faster, so you’re ready for your next workout.

Utilizing Cryotherapy for Sports Recovery

What does cryotherapy do for sports recovery? One of the main benefits of cryotherapy for sports recovery is its ability to increase circulation throughout the targeted area. The increased blood flow can reduce inflammation and swelling, aid in muscle restoration, and remove waste, like lactic acid, from the treatment area.

When you work out at a high intensity, your muscles may have localized microdamage and inflammation, leading to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). In addition, high-intensity workouts build up lactic acid in the system, which causes muscles to burn and athletes to experience muscle fatigue.

When cryotherapy increases blood flow to the muscles, they heal from their microdamage faster, inflammation decreases, and the oxygen in the blood reduces lactic acid. As a result, athletes recover from workouts more quickly, and stamina increases, so exercises leave muscles less tired overall.

Bring the Benefits of Cryotherapy Home with TIDL Sport

TIDL Sport’s line of cryotherapy sprays and creams allow athletes to receive the benefits of cryotherapy from the comfort of their homes. Our proprietary, plant-based formulas work quickly to provide immediate cooling relief to sore muscles upon contact.

In addition, our ingredients allow for optimal absorption, deeply penetrating the muscles to reduce inflammation, increase blood flow, and enable you to get back to your workouts feeling fresh and restored.

When you’re looking to experience the benefits of cold therapy without the hassle of visiting a cryotherapy facility, try TIDL Sport’s cryotherapy sprays and creams at home.