The History of Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy consists of very brief exposure of the human and animal body to extreme temperatures. This technology was born in Japan in the 1970s, it is the Japanese professor Dr. Yamauchi who first introduced this innovation. Initially this method was used in the medical field. Very quickly the results were indisputable, the condition of the patients improved and they lowered their doses of medication. People suffering from fibromyalgia, skin diseases, pathologies with a micro-inflammatory component such as chronic pain, but also certain forms of anxio-depressive disorders are very receptive to this cold method.
Thereafter cryotherapy will be used in the sports field to reduce tendinous and muscular pains in high level athletes.
It is in the countries of the East that cryotherapy appears in a second time. For the Olympic Games of Moscow in 1980, many athletes will use this method for their active recovery and to complete their training.
The first center equipped with this technology opened in 2002 at the European Center for Sports Rehabilitation in Cape Breton.
In 2010 in Aix-en-Provenance, France, the first public cryotherapy center opened.
This method will start to be democratized little by little by word of mouth. Thanks to sport, which will allow amateur athletes to better recover and be used in care for men and women. Physiotherapists will take a closer interest in cold technology and prescribe it to their patients, which will contribute to its democratization.
Some mutual insurance companies even go as far as to reimburse the cost of cryotherapy sessions, which proves its effectiveness.