Combination of whole body cryotherapy with static stretching ... reduces fatigue and improves functioning of the [ANS] in CFS, 2022, Kujawski et al

Sly Saint

Sly Saint

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Combination of whole body cryotherapy with static stretching exercises reduces fatigue and improves functioning of the autonomic nervous system in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Abstract
Background

The aim of this study was to explore the tolerability and effect of static stretching (SS) and whole body cryotherapy (WBC) upon fatigue, daytime sleepiness, cognitive functioning and objective and subjective autonomic nervous system functioning in those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) compared to a control population.

Methods
Thirty-two CFS and eighteen healthy controls (HC) participated in 2 weeks of a SS + WBC programme. This programme was composed of five sessions per week, 10 sessions in total.

Results
A significant decrease in fatigue was noted in the CFS group in response to SS + WBC. Some domains of cognitive functioning (speed of processing visual information and set-shifting) also improved in response to SS + WBC in both CFS and HC groups. Our study has confirmed that WBC is well tolerated by those with CFS and leads to symptomatic improvements associated with changes in cardiovascular and autonomic function.

Conclusions
Given the preliminary data showing the beneficial effect of cryotherapy, its relative ease of application, good tolerability, and proven safety, therapy with cold exposure appears to be an approach worth attention. Further studies of cryotherapy as a potential treatment in CFS is important in the light of the lack of effective therapeutic options for these common and often disabling symptoms.

https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-022-03460-1
 
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Mij said:
I live in eastern Canada and a brisk 5 minute walk in mid January could render the same effects?
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:laugh:
Journal of Translational Medicine said:
Voluntary exposure on extremely low temperatures (e.g. local and whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) is one of thermotherapeutic stimuli that is frequently used in Eastern Europe as a form of physical therapy. WBC is comprised of a short time (2–3 min) exposure in ambient temperature from − 110 to − 160 °C to stimulate the body by the intense peripheral hypothermia of virtually its entire area and such controlled exposure is considered to be safe ...
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I looked up the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth: − 93.2 °C. That's still warmer than the temperatures used in this study.
 
ahimsa said:
I'm not opposed to doing research on this, and I know the exposure time is very short, but I wonder what the risks are?

Found this short article on whole body cryotherapy (WBC) on the FDA website:

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consu...apy-wbc-cool-trend-lacks-evidence-poses-risks

Article is not talking about risks in research, it's about providers who are offering this WBC treatment right now.
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I’m wondering what happens if you get stuck inside the cryo machine?! That would be my fear.
 
You wouldn't get stuck in a machine because an employee has to be with you the entire session.

I used to do whole body cryotherapy. There are several businesses in town that have the chambers. At the ones I've been to, they check your BP before and after and require providing a health information background before the 1st session.

My sessions have been 3 minutes. Everyone wears wool socks, and women remove all their clothes, and men remove everything but their underwear. You put on wool slippers, don a robe, and then ring a bell so the employee comes in to start the session. Then the employee keeps talking to you because engaging in conversation makes it more bearable. At the end of a session, the employee opens the chamber door for you and then leaves so you can get dressed.

I found it exhilarating afterwards, but would sometimes have a hard time sleeping, even though I always did it in the morning. Many people find it actually helps their sleep. Over time, it did ease my pain quite a bit.

I'm going to do another session soon since it's been some years since I've done cryotherapy. My sleep is much better than it used to be, so maybe I wouldn't get the insomnia effect.

My doctor of physical medicine looked into cryotherapy some years back and said it was safe because it's such a short time you are exposed to the low temperatures, but that it's not effective for everyone.

I didn't think the 3 minutes in the chamber were bad at all. They have you slowly turn around in the chamber, maybe just for the distraction. But I am someone who would much prefer generally to be too cold rather than too hot.
 
Mij said:
I'm wondering if temperatures for this type of therapy have to be that freezing cold in order to have positive benefits?

Most ppl with autonomic issues feel better in cooler/colder temperatures.
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Yes, that could be possible. I do feel better in the cold, just posted about it on another thread.

By the way, I hope my earlier post didn't look like I was laughing *at* you! :eek::bag:

I thought you were making a joke about how cold it got Canada so I posted a laughing emoji.

Anyway, so sorry if there was any confusion!
 
I wonder how this extreme cold air treatment might compare to moderate cold water treatments?

A daily cold shower is much more accessible. And as I understand it, water (especially running water) is likely to draw heat from the body more quickly than air of the same temperature (especially if the air is still).

Of course, the temperatures quoted here seem very extreme, so perhaps a simple cold water shower wouldn’t be nearly cold enough?

That said I have recently started having a 2-3 mins cold shower each morning. Usually it is right after a warmer 2-3 mins getting washed.

It took a while to get used to this, but now I find I enjoy it.

A big plus already is that I’ve been sleeping much better. I’ve done this for almost 2 weeks now.

I started it because I thought I was feeling better on the days I had a dip in the sea.

Has anyone else tried any cold sessions?
 
In a few months the temperatures here in eastern Canada will be going down to -20's. I feel much better in the colder months.

I also take cooler showers in the evening, not the mornings. Helps me sleep better.
 
Merged thread

Polish researcher proposes treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome

The combination of whole body cryotherapy with static stretching exercises reduces fatigue and improves functioning of the autonomic nervous system and significantly improves the quality of life of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome
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“Ten years ago I was on an internship in Newcastle and I first came into contact with people suffering from CFS. Those patients had very characteristic symptoms of dysautonomia, an autonomic nervous system disorder. This interested me and after my return, together with my team, we were the first in Poland to look for such patients and run the first projects with their participation. As far as I know, it still is not a popular topic in Poland,” says Professor Paweł Zalewski from the Collegium Medicum of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.

Zalewski and his colleagues from the Department of Exercise Physiology and Functional Anatomy published the results of their research in the Journal of Translational Medicine(https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-022-03460-1).
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“Usually, the methodology of cryotherapy uses exercises that enhance its effects,” Zalewski says. “Most of these are aerobic exercises, e.g. cardio. In this case, however, we could not use them, because one of the most important clinical symptoms of CFS is pathological exercise intolerance. So we started looking for other forms of working with the body.”
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Zalewski adds that chronic fatigue syndrome is an extremely rare disease and unfortunately - especially in some countries - it is affected by the problem of overdiagnosis.
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https://scienceinpoland.pl/en/news/news,94823,polish-researcher-proposes-treatment-chronic-fatigue-syndrome.html
 
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curious that he says CFS is overdiagnosed and yet used Fukuda(?)

eta: this group seem to be out of touch with regards ME/CFS. would be good to get some communication with them(?) to find out why.
 
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Sly Saint said:
eta: this group seem to be out of touch with regards ME/CFS. would be good to get some communication with them(?) to find out why.
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This study will be discussed at the next IACFSME Journal Club. 1 pm 14 April New York time.

Slawomir Kujawski, PhD
Nicolaus Copernicus University
Department of Exercise Physiology and Functional Anatomy
Toruń, Poland

Abnormal and prolonged recovery after physical, cognitive, emotional, and orthostatic stressors in ME/CFS may be due to a dysfunctional autonomic nervous system. For many years, athletes have experimented with cold water or similar exposure to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system in the hopes of accelerating recovery after exercise. Do such treatments hold any promise for ME/CFS? Drs. Slawomir Kujawski and Pawel Zalewski will discuss possible benefits of cryotherapy and static stretching on various ME/CFS symptoms.
https://nova.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VR-_zpNRSoO9YnSAQYZN0g
 
The global prevalence of CFS ranges between 0.4% and 2.5% and is growing; CFS affects 0.3–3.3% of the US population, 2.6% in the UK and 3% in China. In Poland, in cohort of people suffering from chronic fatigue the prevalence of CFS is 5% from and is associated with a significant symptom burden and impaired quality of life
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Certainly the ideas about prevalence and diagnostic criteria in this paper look worth talking about. The problems with English in that second sentence is representative of the paper.

There are no specified diagnostic markers nor differing diagnostic criteria commonly established.
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Such analysis was helpful in relieving the interaction between physiological systems in response to stressor in form of applied intervention.
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Here's another sentence with difficult language; I think probably every second sentence has at least one error. I don't think this is a preprint and yet problems with the English make it hard to work out what was meant in places. Problems like this also decrease the credibility of the paper. If someone gets the chance, they could mention that Science for ME could probably help the Polish researchers find a volunteer to proofread future papers.

JLN, ŁS, PZ drafted manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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(I'm not sure what Julia Newton's role was in this paper, but it clearly wasn't doing a final proof read. When you have a native English speaker on the author list, I'm struggling to see why language of this quality should make it to the published paper. It seems like many people, including the peer reviewers and editors, just didn't care enough; it feels like disrespect to people with ME/CFS and to the research.)
 
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