The Power of Cryotherapy

At Grovetown Chiropractic, we believe real success in care comes from helping patients achieve lasting results, not just short-term relief. That means giving you tools and strategies you can use beyond our office, so your body continues to heal and stay strong every day. One of the simplest — yet most powerful — tools we recommend is the ice pack. Used correctly, cryotherapy can make a tremendous difference in recovery, pain management, and long-term health.

We also created a short video to introduce the idea of cryotherapy—watch it here before diving deeper into the details below.

The underrated benefits of ice pack therapy

In the interest of caring for people well, many procedures and devices have made their way into the practice but scarcely none has been as reliably effective as the humble ice pack. It has become part of the practice mission at Grovetown Chiropractic to see that everyone that requires cryotherapy in the interest of managing their condition is able and willing to use it on their own at home. You are with you far more than I am with you and I need you on my side in order to get you better. Very often that includes using an ice pack at home. Getting compliance in this matter has proved to be an enduring difficulty. People don’t like ice. It’s cold. I get it. But once I become convinced that this is a necessary ingredient, some combination of encouragement and cajoling will almost certainly follow as I go from care provider to coach in the noble effort of helping all of my patients get rid of me.

Understanding cryotherapy and blood flow

There are some basics here. Tissue injuries, both acute and chronic, have long escaped clear diagnosis. Even among the providers that specialize in the care of such issues such as chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists and even rheumatologists- nomenclature is widely varied. One point however upon which you will almost always find universal agreement is that, in the interest of caring for these things, getting improved blood flow will be beneficial. At that point however you will discover, again, many differing ideas as to how we would achieve that important increased blood flow. It is medically documented that if you drop the temperature of local arterioles, it is possible to achieve a localized vasodilation which can yield very beneficial increased perfusion to tissues which require it in order to heal. This is the real power of cryotherapy. [1]

What makes the best ice-pack for injuries?

Actually, the term ice pack is archaic (as am I), and the most effective cryo- packs do not contain ice. They often contain media with a high water content, however. While water has a terrific specific heat which makes it ideal for the purpose, combining that with some degree of phase change makes your cryo- pack even that much more effective. This means that storing your cryo- pack in the freezer in such a way that it becomes firm without becoming rigid gives you your most effective treatment. We should all prioritize avoiding harms and the most common harm with the cryo- pack is a freeze injury to the skin. This is best avoided by being certain that there’s no residual moisture or frost on your cryo- pack and that you have protection between your cryo- pack in your skin that serves the purpose of safety without insulating you too much for the necessary effect of the coldness of the pack. This can often be achieved with a single layer of cloth. Restricting the treatment time to 20 minutes or less is another way to ensure that you avoid injury from the cryo- pack.

How to maximize cryotherapy at home

The most effective means of achieving your best effect for the cryo- pack is NOT by having an extremely cold pack. A cryo- pack that is slightly firm yet still molds well to the body in order to get very good contact with the tissue and is large enough to draw the necessary heat from the body in order to stir the vascular response is the best way to get an optimized cryotherapy treatment at home. Ensuring good contact with the injury is crucial. Using a strap of some sort to achieve full contact is a way to affect this.

From clinic to home: Making cold therapy stick

We enjoy the luxury of being able to demonstrate this in the clinic for every person that requires it, and having the experience of having the cryo- pack applied for you can often be very clarifying for the process. Doing a common thing uncommonly well – every day.

Always here to help

I hope this has been helpful. We look forward to being a service to you and the community here at Grovetown Chiropractic.

[1] Flavahan, Sheila, and Nicholas A. Flavahan. “Cooling-Induced Dilatation of Cutaneous Arteries Is Mediated by Increased Myoendothelial Communication.” American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, vol. 319, no. 2, 2020, pp. H123–H132.

Written by: Donaid Seals D.C

Dr. Seals is a practicing Doctor of Chiropractic with over 25 years of experience caring for people. His thinking is the product of his education, practice experience and many years in the natural foods and fitness industry. He has become living proof that old muscleheads don’t die-or fade away; sometimes they grow up to bring real-world expertise to the clinical picture. Traditional background information is available here.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Seals, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Seals and his community. Dr. Seals encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.