Lose weight and heal injuries by freezing yourself. Those are some of the reported benefits of cryotherapy.
The first “salon” of this kind in the metro just opened for business.
Muscle pain and curiosity drew Christine Shah to take a spin at cryotherapy.
Shah said, “First, I just wanted to experience it to see what it really was.”
Before you begin your session, you put on two pairs of gloves, socks and special shoes to protect more sensitive extremities because it gets very, very cold.
The temperature inside the chamber drops to about -250 degrees Fahrenheit with the use of liquid nitrogen. You only do up to three minutes inside per session.
The frigid temperatures are said to reduce inflammation.
Jon Sirna, co-owner of CryoSalon explained, “They notice a difference in their sleeping, their range of motion. It was technically developed for arthritis and sports rehab.”
Sirna and his business partner opened the salon in Overland Park this week after they searched for a pain solution of their own.
“We decided this would be a good opportunity to provide people another way, an all-natural way, of healing and maintenance for their body,” Sirna said.
It's not a new concept. Interventional Radiologists like Dr. Steven Lemons at the University of Kansas Hospital use cryoablative therapy to kill tumors.
“We use cold energy to essentially kill tumor cells; specifically we've used them in kidney tumors, lung tumors and liver tumors primarily,” said Dr. Lemons.
However, Dr. Lemons explained, the specific procedure he performs underwent years of research and testing. Whole body cryotherapy has not been FDA approved.
Dr. Lemons said, “Like any pharmaceutical agent or medical device in the United States, there's a rigorous process of investigating whether or not it's safe, whether or not it's effective before we unleash it on the public.”
That was a risk Shah was willing to take.
“You feel lighter, you feel more energetic, you feel more… well, you don’t feel cold,” Shad said.
However, at subarctic temperatures, that depends on the individual.
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Shannon Halligan can be reached at shannon.halligan@kshb.com.
