Sports Science is changing the way we look at sport and in particular, preparation and recovery of athletes. In a world where results matter, even the smallest advantage can spell the difference between success and failure. One such advantage is cryotherapy.
A well recovered athlete is more able to perform to their maximum capability. They’re also more robust and less prone to injury. With the ascension of technology in sport, more and more teams and athletes are utilising whole body cryotherapy as a central element on enhancing their recovery.
Here’s 5 top reasons why your athletes need cryotherapy…
Across a lot of sports, recovery windows are compressed. With increased numbers of fixtures, additional travel, adjusted game start times and post-game media duties, the amount of time athletes can spend recovering from competition is being reduced.
Introducing cryotherapy means your athletes can kick-start their recovery and get back to competition readiness faster. Analysis of the research suggests athletes using cryotherapy return to game-state faster.
There is strong evidence that shows whole body cryotherapy improves the skeletal health of athletes. The therapy has been shown to improve the rates of bone remodelling and growth, which strengthens the skeleton and reduces risk of injury.
Any athlete undergoing high impact forces – contact sports players, runners, gymnasts, tennis players etc would benefit from the therapy to help prevent bone injuries, which can keep them out of action for months at a time.
From a purely practical point of view, whole body cryotherapy is perfect for recovery in compressed time windows. A whole-body cryotherapy session can be conducted in a matter of minutes (average session is around 3 minutes).
Contrast this with an hour-long massage and you’ll see the practical benefits. Athletes can be treated and able to get on with the rest of their recovery within minutes. It’s not only a faster solution, but also more comprehensive. A Mecotec chamber works on the whole body at the same time, whereas massage focuses on a single area each session.
This one is huge. Inflammatory markers have been shown to be elevated in athletes’ post-competition. This has several knock-on effects including impacting muscle function, compromising movement quality, and increasing future injury risk. The sooner post exercise inflammation can be addressed, the better.
In research on high-ranking tennis players, there was strong evidence showing that cryotherapy improved inflammatory markers and reduced recovery time.
You don’t need to be an athlete to have experienced DOMS – delayed onset muscle soreness. This is the pain you feel in your muscles and connective tissues post-exercise. The problem with DOMS in athletes is that it impacts the ability to train and compete in a short time window, plus doing either in the presence of DOMS can increase injury risk.
Cryotherapy has been shown to reduce the severity and duration of DOMS, so using the therapy post exertion will help athletes recover faster and more fully.
As we’ve shown here, cryotherapy has a wide number of physical and practical benefits for athletes. It improves the quality and speed of recovery and means even in compressed time windows; athletes will be ready to train and perform more quickly they would using more traditional techniques such as massage.
Science and the application of technology improves lots of areas of our lives, so why should sporting performance be any different?
For more information on Mecotec cryotherapy solutions and how our range of products can help you or your athletes, contact us here. Let us help you reach the top of your game.
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