Research points to positive benefits for use of whole-body cryotherapy for sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis

A recently published scientific research article¹ has highlighted the benefits of the use of whole-body cryotherapy for sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). A disease of the central nervous system, MS is an auto-immune disease, where the immune system, instead of attacking a virus or infection, starts to attach the new cells, in particular the protective layer of fatty protein covering the nervous system cells.

Whole Body Cryotherapy involves exposing the body to temperatures as low as -130°C for a  period of up to 3 minutes. The therapy is delivered in a specially designed cryogenic chamber where the air is supercooled. Users stand or sit in an adapted chair in the chamber under the guidance of a trained operator. The whole body cryotherapy sessions can be taken at regular internals over a period of weeks.

The conclusions are the study identified that a series of 20 Whole Body Cryotherapy sessions improves the functional state and reduces fatigue in patients with MS, which may be due to adaptive changes in bioelectrical muscle activity.

The research study group was 114 MS patients of which 74 received a series of 20 sessions of whole body cryotherapy. The study was was conducted by experts from 

• Department of Functional Diagnostics and Physical Medicine, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Szczecin,
• Poland College of Engineering and Health in Warsaw, Faculty of Health Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
• Department of Cardiological Rehabilitation, Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

This research complements other similar scientific research that demonstrated the effect of 50 whole body cryotherapy sessions in MS patients that highlighted: improvement of  functional status, reduction of depressive symptoms and pain, reduction of the degree of disability and felt fatigue and increase uric acid blood level.

CryoAction Chief Executive Officer, Ian Saunders commented “With an estimated 130,000 sufferers of multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom, this research will be welcome news to those afflicted with this terrible disease. We know from current MS patients who are users of the growing number of CryoAction cryotherapy chambers installed in the UK, just how much they are benefitting from access to our chambers, and now we have the scientific research to back up the anecdotal information.”

^{1 Adaptive changes in muscle activity after cryotherapy treatment: Potential mechanism for improvement the functional state in patients with multiple sclerosis –  Radecka, Aleksandraa | Knyszyńska, Annaa | Łuczak, Joannab; c | Lubkowska, Annaa; *}

^{( https://content.iospress.com/articles/neurorehabilitation/nre201535)}

² _{(Pawik,et al., 2019) (Miller et al., 2016) (Miller et al., 2013) (Schwid, 2003).}