Lorrie Jago, a licensed practical nurse and Director of Operations at CHILL Cyrosauna in Orlando, Florida, talks about a treatment that is allowing people to freeze themselves to better health.
Interview conducted by Ivanhoe Broadcast News in August 2016.
Can you talk to me about cryotherapy and what it is and what exactly is done?
Lorrie Jago: Cryotherapy is the use of extreme cold temperatures to stimulate healing throughout your body. You are surrounded by liquid nitrogen vapors. The temperature is reduced to as low as negative two forty Fahrenheit and this triggers a reaction in your nervous system, your sensory receptors in your skin sends signals to your brain that you are in trouble. This sets off a whole chain of events inside your nervous system that go to healing, anti-inflammation that it boosts energy, it promotes collagen production. There’s a whole variety of different things that it addresses.
For how long are these?
Lorrie Jago: You’re in the session for three minutes. We start your session out at minus one fifty Fahrenheit so you get the full impact of what cryotherapy provides.
Could you clarify how the cold temperature, you said that it sends signals to your body and it helps with inflammation and anti-aging, how is that possible, how could it be that effective?
Lorrie Jago: When you’re going in to hyperthermia your body begins to protect you. Your blood vessels constrict and force your blood to you core to protect your core temperature. These are all natural reactions to cold. Your blood is super oxygenated by that process of protecting your core temperature. Then when you come out of the chamber your blood vessels dilate all that super rich oxygenated blood then flushes through your system. Your hypothalamus in your brain is your temperature regulator in your body. It produces all kinds of beneficial biochemicals, hormones, endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin is also produced during the process which is a natural anti-anxiety chemical so it helps elevate your mood, alleviate anxiety and depression. There is also the added benefit of a more youthful glow to your skin. The super oxygenated blood helps your skin to kind of rejuvenate.
How many sessions do you think patients or clients would need to go through this to see results or start seeing results?
Lorrie Jago: It depends on what their issue is. We have pretty much three major targets of people that benefit from cryotherapy. Everybody will benefit this. It’s all natural and it pretty much helps anybody. But athletes, competitive athletes as well as armature athletes, fitness buffs, people who are interested in anti-aging, weight loss that kind of thing. Also people who suffer from chronic conditions or injuries. If you have a chronic issue or an injury we always recommend at least three sessions in the beginning to get that full benefit to really feel what it’s going to be able to do for you. Then after those three sessions kind of judge for yourself how you feel and work in to a maintenance routine. It is a therapy it’s not a one and done perfect cure for everything. It is something that needs to be integrated in to your lifestyle.
You mentioned it’s good for athletes, for people for anti-aging, is there a group of people that probably it’s not so good for?
Lorrie Jago: People who suffer from cardiac conditions, people who have known blood clot issues, pregnant women are not recommended to do this.
Why is that?
Lorrie Jago: It’s just too much of a stressor on their body.
Like for people with heart conditions?
Lorrie Jago: Right.
What should people know if they’re looking or researching information about this? What should they know before they decide to go through cryotherapy?
Lorrie Jogo: Well they should know whether or not they have control of blood pressure issue. People with high blood pressure that’s not controlled should not try cryotherapy. It is very intense and when you’re in the session your blood pressure can elevate a little bit because your blood vessels are constricting. But when you come out your blood vessels dilate, everything settles back down. But if you do have that issue it’s not recommended for you.
Right after the session since they’re coming out from such extreme temperatures is there anything that people need to do afterwards?
Lorrie Jago: There’s really no restrictions afterwards, we do provide alkalized water for all of our clients even though they don’t feel like they’re coming dehydrated it is a dehydrating process because your body is working overtime. Alkalized water does rehydrate you much more rapidly. The molecules are broken down into smaller pieces and it is absorbed more readily in to your system. We do provide that but other than that we have clients that go straight from cryo to the gym to work out because they get that boost of energy and adrenalin. We have other clients that like to go home and relax because they’re feeling that more oxitosen feel where they’re nice and calm and peaceful. Basically it’s just however you respond to it.
Are there any disadvantages to this?
Lorrie Jago: Disadvantages, I haven’t really encountered any disadvantages. People who do this regularly and have worked it in to their routine basically can’t live without it. They just love the energy and also it’s an energy boost that doesn’t have that crash afterwards. You drink an energy drink and then you feel kind of like yuck. This is a very natural process your body responds to it very naturally and metabolizes everything the way your body is supposed to.
How did you get in to this? What is your background?
Lorrie Jago: Actually my background is I studied nursing and the owner of our facility was my neighbor. He was contemplating opening this center that we have here when we were neighbors and we got to talking about it and he wanted medically minded people. So that people who do come in do have medical issues that they’re addressing even though this isn’t a medical process. He wanted people that would understand what they’re going through things like fibromyalgia and arthritis and recovering from injury you know from a car accident or a fall something like that. I graduated from nursing school, came straight here and we’ve been building this business ever since.
This is a treatment that takes three minutes to actually do, do you get any skepticism about it?
Lorrie Jago: Oh yes we get a lot of skeptics. It’s understandable it’s three minutes but like I mentioned earlier it’s not a miracle one and done. But you do feel something after the very first session. It is a therapy it needs to be something that you do on a regular basis, how often depends on you. It could be as often as two or three times a week to as seldom as once a month. It all depends on your needs and how you react to it. We’ve got people that come in once a week on a regular basis and it’s just part of their life.
For example if somebody was having back pain or knee pain should they also pair this with other therapies?
Lorrie Jago: It is very good as an augment to chiropractic care. If you have back injuries, back problems and you’re seeing your chiropractor and you notice that you just kind of slip right back in to the same misalignment chiropractic addresses the alignment of the spine and that’s wonderful but the soft tissue issues, the inflammation and the pain kind of are still there. Cryotherapy helps your body to heal those issues so your chiropractic is more effective for you.
I was reading that clothing was optional so could you speak a little bit about that?
Lorrie Jago: Clothing is optional we recommend that you go in to the chamber with as little on as possible. Since this therapy involves sensory receptors in your skin the more skin exposure to the liquid nitrogen vapors and the cold the better. Men we do require that they leave their undergarments on, women can go completely nude. We do provide gloves to protect your fingers, socks to protect your toes and slippers. We also have a robe for privacy. You enter the chamber with your robe on the door is closed and you take it off and whatever level of exposure you’re comfortable with is fine as long as there’s no metal in the chamber. If you have a bra that’s got metal on it you can’t have that, more of a sports bra would be recommended.
Is this treatment covered by insurance?
Lorrie Jago: At this time it is not a treatment that is covered by insurance. We are hoping that the medical community will get on board eventually, it’s a process.
Can you speak to me a little bit about Jermaine’s case?
Lorrie Jago: Jermaine is a great example of recovering from an injury. He’s a former NBA player who had an injury. He is stepping up his training efforts to get back in to the NBA and integrating cryotherapy to go along with all of the things that he’s doing to get back at his top peak performance.
How long has he been coming here?
Lorrie Jago: He’s been coming here maybe a month now. He loves it, every time he comes he feels energized ready to go. Muscles aren’t sore any more joints are ready to go. He’s a local athlete and we’re very, very pro supporting our athletes here in Orlando.
The month that he’s been here what has been his progress?
Lorrie Jago: He had some issues with joint pain and muscle pain and when he does his cryotherapy those issues are virtually gone. He’s able to get back out there and train that much harder.
Can you talk again about how the temperature is and how is that effective?
Lorrie Jago: The specific temperature that is optimal for cryotherapy is minus two forty degrees below zero. That triggers the response in your nervous system. We start our sessions at minus one fifty that is kind of the trigger point where your body begins to respond. It’s not enough to just be cold it literally is a specific temperature where your body begins to respond and protect you, that we want these beneficial chemicals to start being produced. Just regular cold your body is protecting yourself but not to that extreme level and we want to get you right there and then stop.
You said they start at one fifty but does it go up?
Lorrie Jago: Well our chamber is in centigrade so you’ll see that it cools down to minus one hundred degrees before we begin your session. We then start the session and that way you’re getting a full cryotherapy stimulating experience from the minute you walk in to our chamber.
END OF INTERVIEW
This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.
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Lorrie Jago
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