Effect of whole body cryotherapy interventions on health-related quality of life in fibromyalgia patients: A randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Although fibromyalgia syndrome (SFM) affects 2-4 percent of adults, research has not identified a preferred therapeutic option for patients worldwide yet. Based on recent findings, it can be expected that whole body cryotherapy can improve health-reported quality of life by alleviating the symptoms of musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to determine whether whole body cryotherapy only can result in improved perceived health and quality of life in fibromyalgia patients. METHODS: 24 patients with fibromyalgia diagnosis were randomized into 2 groups (n=11 in the whole body cryotherapy group, n=13 in the control group). In the whole body cryotherapy group, 10 sessions of whole body cryotherapy were performed (in addition to usual care) in a standard cryotherapy room over a duration of 8days. Subjects in the control group did not change anything in their everyday activities. Quality of life was assessed just before and one month after treatment. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, patients in the whole body cryotherapy group reported significantly improved for health-reported quality of life. These effects lasted for at least one month following intervention. CONCLUSION: Based on these findings, whole body cryotherapy can be recommended as an effective clinically adjuvant approach in the improvement of health-related quality of life in fibromyalgia patients.

Theoretical modeling of time-dependent skin temperature and heat losses during whole-body cryotherapy: A pilot study.

This article establishes the basics of a theoretical model for the constitutive law that describes the skin temperature and thermolysis heat losses undergone by a subject during a session of whole-body cryotherapy (WBC). This study focuses on the few minutes during which the human body is subjected to a thermal shock. The relationship between skin temperature and thermolysis heat losses during this period is still unknown and have not yet been studied in the context of the whole human body. The analytical approach here is based on the hypothesis that the skin thermal shock during a WBC session can be thermally modelled by the sum of both radiative and free convective heat transfer functions. The validation of this scientific approach and the derivation of temporal evolution thermal laws, both on skin temperature and dissipated thermal power during the thermal shock open many avenues of large scale studies with the aim of proposing individualized cryotherapy protocols as well as protocols intended for target populations. Furthermore, this study shows quantitatively the substantial imbalance between human metabolism and thermolysis during WBC, the explanation of which remains an open question.