AG2R Cryotherapy Recuperation

[luckyboy]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ag2r-using-cryotherapy-for-tour-de-france

The French team AG2R-La Mondiale will use cryotherapy to help enhance recovery during the Tour de France, the squad announced today.

Riders will endure three minutes in a special whole body suit, pioneered by Tec4H, which is filled with liquid nitrogen at -150 degrees Celsius.

This struck me as something interesting. I wonder how much benefit it will give, especially over three weeks.

And -150°C sounds pretty unbearable for three minutes.

 

[Cloxxki]

Is an ice bath not enough?

 

[indurain666]

I take it, the suit has some sort of insulation between the liquid nitrogen @-150 C. So then the inner face of the insulation in contact with skin would be at a lower temperature. Sounds a bit scary, what if the suit leaks and skin gets in contact with liquid nitrogen?

Ice bath sounds safer

 

[nfmcgrath]

Is this not the same thing that Alberto Salazar uses for Nike sponsored runners?
I seem to recall reading something like this treatment (in the last year) in which the runners would stand (or lie down) and then their bodies are flash frozen for X amount of time.

 

[biokemguy]

indurain666
I take it, the suit has some sort of insulation between the liquid nitrogen @-150 C. So then the inner face of the insulation in contact with skin would be at a lower temperature. Sounds a bit scary, what if the suit leaks and skin gets in contact with liquid nitrogen?

+1

The journalists must have got this one wrong. 3 minutes at -150ºC would be deadly.

These suits may use liquid nitrogen, but it's hard to imagine a person being held at that temperature for 3 minutes.

From experience, 3 seconds in contact with something that cold will cause minor damage to the skin.

 

[sometriguy]

Too lazy to look it up, but I am pretty sure machines like this use quick bursts of cold over a 3 minute period.

Something like 3 seconds of cold 10 seconds off, etc.

 

[veganrob]

That's very cool.

 

[barn yard]

its just a more efficient ice bath

 

[Ferminal]

Nah, lots of sports are using this now I think, it's just a glorified ("better") ice bath. Don't need to be exposed for as long.

 

[Willy_Voet]

Liquid nitrogen on your skin for less than 5 seconds will induce burns. 3 minutes exposure will turn you into one big blister. There has to be an insulating layer, but why not just dunk into an ice bath or pour a cold water bottle over your head. As indurain666 said, there is a potential for a nasty accident to happen (think of whole sections of skin sliding off...)

Now, the cold air coming off liquid nitrogen is absolute heaven (I say this as I work in a very hot/humid place and get to use nitrogen everyday). If there is a micro-perforated layer between the liquid nitrogen and the skin, that would be lovely.

 

[blackcat]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ag2r-using-cryotherapy-for-tour-de-france



This struck me as something interesting. I wonder how much benefit it will give, especially over three weeks.

And -150°C sounds pretty unbearable for three minutes.

think Han Solo underwent this process in The Empire Strikes Back.

Vincent Lavenu been consulting with George Lucas?

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

It looks like Contador may already be using it.

 

[Granville57]

Is this not the same thing that Alberto Salazar uses for Nike sponsored runners?
I seem to recall reading something like this treatment (in the last year) in which the runners would stand (or lie down) and then their bodies are flash frozen for X amount of time.

Surgical Doping Thread

Athletes freeze their bodies to -275 degrees to get an edge
Using a machine called a Cryosauna, the athlete stands in a tube filled with nitrogen gas at -275 degrees Fahrenheit for two minutes, causing blood to rush towards their vital organs.

 

[blackcat]

It looks like Contador may already be using it.

is this from the 2011 Pirelli Cameltoe edition calendar?

Armstrong only sacrificed 1 testicle for his quest to increase his power to weight ratio. Pistolero underwent a mannequin merkin so he suffers from priape envy and needs to shoot his pistolero on conquering the mountain to compensate!

 

[Basecase]

I heard from a sports guru a few years back that cryo-chambers increase production of testostrone in the the body and that's the real reason sports teams use them!?!

Anyone else heard this?

 

[laziali]

FFS people, it's nothing more than a pre-emptive smokescreen to explain some better than reasonably expected results this July. Cadence anyone???

 

[Cryolab]

Cryotherapy

We run a Cryotherapy clinic in Sydney Australia, the treatment is being clinically trialled at the moment @Nike HQ in USA, with Olympic distance runners. It works in a different physiological way to an ice bath, your haemoglobin actually increases 24-72 hrs after therapy. Essentially your brain is tricked into survival, by passing the shivering mechanism in most people. Hope this helps....

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ag2r-using-cryotherapy-for-tour-de-france



This struck me as something interesting. I wonder how much benefit it will give, especially over three weeks.

And -150°C sounds pretty unbearable for three minutes.

It's much more bearable when the fluid is 100% beet juice.

When it gets to be too much to bear, they shove a rice cake in your mouth to gnaw on.

Much more palatable...

 

[Ferminal]

We run a Cryotherapy clinic in Sydney Australia, the treatment is being clinically trialled at the moment @Nike HQ in USA, with Olympic distance runners. It works in a different physiological way to an ice bath, your haemoglobin actually increases 24-72 hrs after therapy. Essentially your brain is tricked into survival, by passing the shivering mechanism in most people. Hope this helps....

Ah, I can see it already.

"I have never touched PEDs, I'm only a 9 because my new cryo recovery".

(Altiitude was so last year).

 

[cocteau_ireland]

Tony McCoy (UK champion jockey) has been using this method for 3 years

 

[Anonymous]

apparently its also very useful in the treatment of cancer