Cryotherapy; popular therapy uses extreme cold to heal

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - If you sprain your ankle, or bump your head, chances are you've used ice to bring down the swelling and help yourself heal.

Now a new kind of therapy uses extreme cold and it's getting credit for helping people with everything from muscle aches to depression, it's called cryotherapy.

"She has 30 seconds, and she is at -222 degrees," said Angelo Alvarez.

You heard that right, a Scottsdale woman is in a container, pumped full of super cold nitrogen gas, she's in the process of being frozen solid and she's into it.

Do people think she is crazy jumping into a tank where it is -200 degrees?

"I think people would say I'm crazy to do it, but once you do it they're hooked," said a patient.

Hooked on cryotherapy? For three minutes you're put into a high-tech refrigerator, your skin subjected to super cold temperatures.

Therapists say it triggers a response in your body causing the blood to pull back away from your skin and flow to your vital organs, a survival reflex to the cold.

When you come out the blood rushes back to the skin.

It's all part of a therapy that Angelo Alvarez opened with Scottsdale Cryotherapy 4-years-ago.

"It's great for skin disorders, it's great for pain management, it's great for anti-aging, great for detoxification, for skin as well, the constant freezing of the skin activates the production of collagen," said Alvarez.

And it is gaining in popularity, so why are so many people doing this?

"I just wanted to give it a try for overall health benefits, detoxing energy, those are some of the things I've noticed since I started. I'm fortunate that I'm not coming her for pain, for me it is like superhuman performance, I'm trying to be the best I can be," said a patient.

Photos on the wall show pro-athletes who have been in the same chamber, many say they use it to speed up muscle recovery.

"It's probably an overpriced, expensive treatment," said the patient.

But not everyone is a believer. Steven Propatier is an orthopedic nurse practitioner who says he's done a lot of research on cryotherapy.

"Although you can make those claims, I wouldn't say there's any evidence that the treatment does that for anybody," said Steven Propatier.

Read more about Scottsdale Cryotherapy online: https://www.scottsdalecryotherapy.com/