Closed soft tissue injury induces progressive microvascular dysfunction and regional inflammation. The authors tested the hypothesis that adverse trauma-induced effects can be reduced by local cooling. While superficial cooling reduces swelling, pain, and cellular oxygen demand, the effects of cryotherapy on posttraumatic microcirculation are incompletely understood. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Closed soft tissue injury induces progressive microvascular dysfunction and regional inflammation. The authors tested the hypothesis that adverse trauma-induced effects can be reduced by local cooling. While superficial cooling reduces swelling, pain, and cellular oxygen demand, the effects of cryotherapy on posttraumatic microcirculation are incompletely understood. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Cryogenic physiotherapy – medical and generally therapeutic procedure based on the short-term contact of the skin surface with the gas cooled to the temperature of -180ºC to -120º C. The duration of the contact is considerably important. Since the skin surface has to be cooled to the temperature low than 0º C (32º F) for at least 90 sec., the time of the therapeutic treatment should last from 2 to 3 minutes.

inflammation and pain in, for example, arthritis [1], osteoarthritis [2] and fibromyalgia [3]. Winter swimming (WS), i.e. swimming or immersion in ice-cold water, is practised in northern countries, where seas, lakes and rivers freeze during the wintertime. Both WBC and WS represent intense but short-term cold exposure.