Monitoring of whole body cryotherapy effects by thermal imaging: preliminary report

Armand Cholewka¹, Zofia Drzazga¹, Aleksander Sieron²

1. A. Chelkowski Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, Uniwersytecka 4, 40-007 Katowice, Poland

2. Chair and Clinic of Internal Diseases and Physical Medicine, Silesian Medical University, Batorego 15, 41-902 Bytom, Poland

Manuscript received: December 22, 2005; revised: March 15 and April 21, 2006

Accepted for publication: April 26, 2006

Abstract

In whole body cryotherapy the whole human body is exposed to low temperature below -100ºC in a special room called cryogenic chamber for a very short period of time (2-3 minutes). The impact of cold can cause many different biochemical and physiological reactions of the organism. The skin temperature response due to whole body cryotherapy was studied by means of infrared measurements. The thermograms of chosen body parts of patients suffering from low back pain were performed before and after whole body cooling on the 1st, 5th and the last (10th) day of medical treatment. Infrared imaging performed after cold impact owing to the enhancement of the skin temperature profile may reveal a slight decrease of the inflammatory states as a result of the 10 sessions of cryotherapy.

KEYWORDS: infrared measurements, whole body cryotherapy, thermovision diagnostic.