What Cryotherapy Is
Cryotherapy is a treatment that uses cold temperatures for therapeutic purposes. The term comes from the Greek words “kryos” (cold) and “therapeia” (healing).
The technology may look futuristic, but most people are already familiar with basic versions of this idea that have been used for centuries. Think of putting ice on a swollen ankle or using a cold compress for a headache. With modern cryotherapy, that same approach is delivered in more controlled and usually more intense ways.
Today, cryotherapy comes in several forms. Localized cryotherapy targets a specific area of the body. Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) involves stepping into a chamber for a few minutes where the air drops to extremely low temperatures, somewhere between -50°C and -150°C (-58°F to -238°F). Partial-body cryotherapy (PBC) is similar, with temperature reaching around -190°C (-310°F), but your head remains outside the chamber (Legrand et al., 2023). Cold water immersion, commonly known as an ice bath, is another widely used form of cryotherapy, especially in sports recovery.
How Cryotherapy Works
When your body is exposed to cold, it reacts quickly to protect you. The first thing that happens is vasoconstriction, when the blood vessels tighten, pulling blood away from your skin and extremities toward your core to conserve heat (Louis et al., 2020). When cold exposure ends, your blood vessels open again, a process called vasodilation, sending blood back to your tissues.
The returning blood flow brings oxygen and nutrients that tissues need to repair themselves. It can also help remove inflammatory waste that can accumulate in stressed or injured areas. Cold also slows how quickly pain signals travel to the brain, which helps explain the temporary numbing effect many people feel during treatment (Garcia et al., 2021). At the same time, the body’s stress response kicks in and releases norepinephrine, a hormone that helps reduce inflammation, increases alertness, and may even lift mood (He et al., 2025).
That change in circulation, especially the rewarming phase, is where much of the benefit is thought to come from, and the idea with cryotherapy is to trigger this natural cold-response from the body to benefit from these changes. Yet, not every part of this mechanism is fully understood, especially when it comes to how those short-term changes translate into long-term healing. Plus, everyone’s cold threshold is different, which may affect our response to cryotherapy.
Who Cryotherapy Helps
While you’ll often see professional athletes using cryotherapy to recover after a game, the group of people trying it has grown beyond sports. Many people with joint pain, inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, or muscle soreness seek it out to manage symptoms. Some turn to it for general wellness goals, such as feeling more energized or sleeping better.
That said, cryotherapy is not appropriate for everyone. We’ll cover more on this later, but in general, people with cold sensitivity may need to avoid it or talk to a healthcare professional first. The same goes for people with high blood pressure and heart disease.
Common Uses
People try cryotherapy for many reasons. Some uses have stronger support from research, while others rely more on personal experience and are still being studied. Common uses of cryotherapy include:
Pain and swelling after injuries or medical procedures
Joint pain and inflammatory conditions
Muscle soreness after exercise
Certain skin growths, such as warts or skin tags (with localized treatment)
Sleep quality improvement
Mood support
General wellness and energy improvement
Cryotherapy isn’t a replacement for the fundamentals. It’s one way to work with your body’s natural ability to heal when combined with healthy habits, like good sleep, movement, and overall care.
What the Evidence Supports
Pain relief is one of the most well-documented benefits of cryotherapy. A narrative review of 25 studies, including 22 randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—the gold standard in clinical research—found that both localized and WBC can meaningfully reduce chronic pain caused by conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases (Garcia et al., 2021).
Another review looked at continuous cryotherapy devices, which use a wrap that circulates cold water over the affected area. In people recovering from knee arthroscopy, these devices reduced pain and decreased the need for pain medication, though results were less consistent for other types of surgery (Kunkle et al., 2021).
As for inflammation, there’s growing research support. A systematic review found that WBC may have a strong anti-inflammatory effect in people with rheumatoid arthritis and obesity (Tabisz et al., 2023). Similar results were found in an analysis of 11 RCTs, which showed that WBC lowered inflammatory markers in the blood while boosting the body’s own anti-inflammatory response (He et al., 2025). While the total sample for all 11 studies was only 274 people, and mostly focused on athletes or people with obesity, the findings were consistent across multiple studies and reviews, and they were measured objectively using blood markers.
Where the Evidence Is Limited
Some of the most talked-about benefits of cryotherapy still need stronger scientific support. Sleep, for example, is one area people are especially curious about as they look for ways to improve rest, and some early research suggests cryotherapy may help.
A study of 20 healthy young adults found that repeated WBC sessions improved deep sleep and mood, with women seeing the most benefit (Arc-Chagnaud et al., 2024a). And WBC done about an hour before bedtime appeared to improve overnight recovery and heart rate patterns (Arc-Chagnaud et al., 2024b). But both studies were small and focused on a specific group of healthy, active young people. We’re still in the early days of understanding if these same results would hold true for everyone else, such as older adults or those with chronic insomnia.
We’re also seeing interesting links between cryotherapy and mental wellness. When researchers looked at using cryotherapy for anxiety and cognitive function, they found it could be a helpful “add-on” to standard treatments (Tabisz et al., 2023; Doets et al., 2021). But results varied widely, and we need much larger, gold-standard studies before we can call it a definitive treatment.
Energy and general wellness are other reasons people seek out cryotherapy, but most of the evidence here comes from personal experience rather than clinical trials (Legrand et al., 2023).
Safety and Regulation
Cryotherapy is generally considered safe for healthy adults when done correctly, but it isn’t risk-free. One concern is the cold shock response, a sudden jump in breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure as your body reacts to extreme cold. For most people, it passes quickly, but that jolt can be risky for those with high blood pressure or heart disease.
People with certain medical conditions should talk with a healthcare professional before trying cryotherapy. These include:
Raynaud’s phenomenon, where extreme cold can trigger even more reduced blood flow to the hands and feet, which may be painful or damaging.
Peripheral neuropathy, where reduced sensation can make it hard to feel how cold something really is, so you might not notice a cold burn or frostbite starting.
In the United States, WBC chambers are not approved by the FDA to treat medical conditions, and many facilities operate as wellness services, not medical clinics. Long-term safety data are limited, and, though rare, complications such as frostbite, burns, nerve injury, and low oxygen levels have been reported. That said, the overall risk is fairly low when proper screening and safety guidelines are followed (Legrand et al., 2023).
The Experience
Trying cryotherapy for the first time can feel intimidating, but the process is quick. A typical session is usually two to three minutes. You’ll wear minimal clothing with gloves, socks, and slippers to protect sensitive areas. Most people describe the cold as intense but dry, more like standing in a freezer than being wet.
WBC uses refrigerated air in a walk-in chamber, while PBC relies on nitrogen vapor in a smaller, barrel-shaped unit. Aside from those differences, the experience is similar: you step out, warm up within minutes, and can go about your day. Some people try it once out of curiosity; others go a few times a week depending on their goals.
The Future of Cryotherapy
Research on cryotherapy is moving in some interesting directions. New studies are looking at how specific temperatures, session lengths, and delivery methods influence results, and whether certain groups benefit more than others.
We’re also seeing a big push toward larger, better-designed studies and combining cryotherapy with physical therapy and exercise programs to optimize healing. The research is still early, but it’s moving toward clearer, evidence-based answers.
Takeaway
Cryotherapy isn’t a miracle cure, but it isn’t just hype either. There are well-documented benefits for certain conditions, like pain and inflammation. For other claims, we still need stronger evidence. If you’re thinking about trying it, talk with a qualified healthcare professional first, particularly if you have any health conditions that could make cold exposure risky.
