Spring residents Nina and Matthew McFarlane have participated in triathlons for a number of years. As a result, the couple is all too familiar with the aches and pains that can result from vigorous training and competition.

However, once the McFarlanes were exposed to the healing effects of cryotherapy—a therapeutic method that uses extreme cold to tackle inflammation—the couple wasted little time in opening the doors of Cryo Wellness Lab in Magnolia in January.

“We were at a race in the Houston area where another cryotherapy facility in Katy was offering NormaTec [Pulse Recovery] sessions,” Matthew said of the couple’s introduction to the treatment.

Nina also became a believer after cryotherapy relieved many of her migraine symptoms, Matthew said.

Temperatures reach minus 270 degrees.[/caption]

“My wife has suffered from insomnia and migraine headaches for years,” he said. “Since doing cryotherapy, many of her symptoms have gone away completely.”

The couple initially intended to help athletes with recovery during training. However, the business has also assisted people with various chronic pain, injury and inflammation—from neck and back pain to arthritis.

“We certainly have a tremendous amount of athletes that come to us for sports recovery. However, we also have people of all ages who deal with chronic pain [who] are very loyal customers,” Matthew said. “We also have customers who come in for improved skin, sleep and weight loss purposes.”

According to the website, the extremely dry, cold conditions of the cryochamber cause the user’s brain to protect itself from the cold by rapidly pumping blood into the body’s core. The extreme cold causes vasoconstriction, which helps minimize muscle injury and repairs muscle tears quickly. The cold affects only the skin temperature and does not reduce the body’s internal temperature or freeze the tissue like ice baths.

Cryotherapy can be used safely on most clients. However, Matthew said it is not recommended for people who are pregnant, have certain heart issues or have Raynaud’s disease. Although the temperature in a cryosauna can reach minus 170 degrees Celsius or minus 270 degrees Fahrenheit, Matthew said the average session lasts only three minutes.

“Cryotherapy is cold. However, it is for an extremely limited time. It is bearable because of the short duration and the fact that it is a dry cold,” he said. “It feels similar to an ice bath. Many people actually tell us that ice baths are more uncomfortable than cryotherapy because they are wet
and last longer.”

Matthew said cryotherapy is a preferable treatment for four main reasons. He said the services provided by Cryo Wellness Lab are natural and require no pills or chemicals, cryotherapy is based on proven scientific methods, the process is safe and cryotherapy is quick.

“Most of our customers are in and out in less than 10 minutes,” he said.

The McFarlanes’ long-term goals include developing and adopting other recovery and pain management modalities at the Magnolia treatment facility. However, the cryotherapy treatment already draws clients from throughout the Greater Houston area.

“There is nothing better on the planet for inflammation than cryotherapy,” Matthew said. “We have people who come from as far as Katy to see us. “