A Better Ice Bath

Some interesting photo's on runnersworld.com of some New York marathon runners using a nitrogen cooler setup rather than an ice bath. Apparently much like a traditional ice bath, cold temperatures are used to help alter blood flow in the body. Unlike ice, liquid nitrogen can cause temperatures inside the cabin to drop to -170°C. -- Im not certain what actual advantage this has over a ice bath other than it gets you a lot colder a lot quicker

http://www.runnersworld.com/photo/nyc2010/cryosauna/home.html

Just looks too bloody cold to me, some chap even has a hat on. 

I can't help but wonder now how long it will be now before some bright spark thinks its a great idea to jump in a chest freezer.

Some bright spark?!? Thats Dathan Ritzenhein - he's part of a training group that Salazar set-up...I think there's more in here about it (shamefully stolen from Moraghan who posted it last week).

They have started to use it for football as well. I'm asuming it's not cheap, anyone got any direct experiance?

Wouldn't -170c be just a little too cold? I mean parts of your anatomy would be dropping off wouldn't they?

the temperatures reaching the skin won't be -170, you'd do some serious damage. ice baths haven't been scientifically proved to be beneficial long term either. they have been shown to decrease onset muscle soreness, which will help if you want to race/train the following day. however, when training hard you tear muscle fibres etc and the inflammation there initiates a healing response, healing allows adaptations. repeated use of ice baths post-session may be bad in the long run, and may inhibit further adaptations to exercise.

still, it's an old wives tale that it works, the research still isn't out there to concretely prove it...but people continue to use them religiously...

post injury when you want to limit/control the inflammatory response cryotherapy can be immensely useful, as can contrast therapy (hot>cold>hot>cold etc), but using it after training all the time is not worthwhile IMO.

Curly45 wrote (see)

Some bright spark?!? Thats Dathan Ritzenhein 

My comment was not refering to Dathan Ritzenhein (although I also have no idea whom he is, or his claim to fame, my guess he is a professional runner)
I was simply suggesting that at some point when discussing tempratures of around -170 it would not be long before someone thought about doing similar on the cheep and sitting in a chest freezer.
We all know the kinds of people. Those who need the word HOT stamped on coffee cups in Costa Coffee and warning stickers not to stick fingers in chain saw's.. those kinds of bright sparks not for a moment did I mean Mr Ritzenhein

if anyone has ever put a -20C ice pack (deep freeze temp) straight onto skin, then you would know it "burns" i.e. damages the skin cells so sitting in a deep freeze would frankly be fucking stupid.

the N2 freezer is working by cooling the air around the person to very low levels rather than via contact so you can stand it that little bit longer as your skin doesn't get that wet.

frankly it seems like an expensive version of an ice bath and a waste of liquid N2