By Julie Buehler
The conversation went something like this…
Me: “Exactly how cold does it get in there?”
Mike Butler, owner of Kinetix Health and Performance in Palm Desert: “Negative 156. But it can be adjusted if you can’t handle that.”
Me, with the same response to all questions of if I can “handle it”: “Of course I can handle it…” as my voice trailed off, I looked at my phone to see the outdoor temperature was 118 on this afternoon, so those frigid temps were entirely tempting.
I walked into the room where the only Cryotherapy chamber in the Coachella Valley resides at Kinetix, a multifaceted athletic training and wellness facility off Washington Street.
So what is it and why was I doing this?
Five months ago, I injured my knee throwing truck tires around in one of my workouts. It wasn’t healing well and slowing me down. Health and fitness expert and strength coach, Butler, told me Cryotherapy accelerated the healing process for joints and soft tissue injuries.
Apparently, Cryotherapy cools the body very, very quickly to extreme temperatures, in my case, negative 156 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes the body’s blood supply to rush from the “extremities”- READ: arms and legs- and protect the core where it becomes nutrient rich. After a couple minutes walking in the subzero, artic chamber, once back in normal temperatures again, the rejuvenated blood can then flood back into the arms, legs and injuries where it repairs and heals.
Cryotherapy is used by professional athletes from PGA players, NBA, MLB and NFL stars as well as teams like the Clippers, Lakers and Spurs.
Some NFL teams own their own chambers to send injured players into for faster recovery. The science is that this nutrient-rich blood reduces inflammation, the cause of pain, and heals damaged tissue.
So I was game. I changed into a bathrobe, oversized wool socks, and gloves and climbed into the metal cylinder that would soon become full of pulsating liquid nitrogen. Once disrobed, the whirling of the machine began pumping the frozen mist across my skin. Susan Butler, co-owner of Kinetix and Mike’s wife, told me it’d feel like a thousand tiny needles, but it felt more like spilling soft serve all over myself.
Each session lasts between 2-4 minutes depending on the temperatures, size of the individual and scope of injury or inflammation. My session lasted 2 minutes, 30 seconds and while it was cold, very cold, it never got uncomfortable.
When I exited the chamber, my skin temperature was 30 degrees cooler than when I entered it and as my body restored its homeostasis, I felt surging energy. I immediately bounced on my knee to test it, see if any pain resisted my efforts to jump up and down. But rather than have discomfort, I felt like I could run a marathon.
Cryotherapy not only works for injuries and inflammation, but also arthritis, chronic pain and many other ailments because it forces the body to heal itself. Developed and perfected in Europe, this is a popular therapy across the world, but there’s only one chamber in the desert. You can check out Kinetix and the list of clients at www.KinetixCenter.com and see if Cryotherapy can help your ailments. My knee is cranking out squats and deadlifts once again and healing was the coolest thing I could have done this summer.
Julie Buehler hosts the Coachella Valley’s most popular sports talk radio show, “Buehler’s Day Off” every day from 1-4 on 1010 KXPS, the valley’s all sports station. She’s an avid gym rat, slightly sarcastic and more likely to recite Steve Young’s career passing stats than American Idol winners. Tune in M-F 1-4 pst at www.team1010.com or watch the show on Ustream.
