Chiropractor Chris Watson welcomed a new addition to his Peninsula Wellness Centre in Mountain View in November – a Juka cryotherapy machine designed to help people with myriad health problems from arthritis to sports injuries.
After trying the Juka unit himself, Watson began allowing patients into the cylindrical chamber and now has approximately 50 patients using the treatment, which employs extreme cold temperatures to help reduce inflammation and pain. The process, known as whole body cryotherapy, uses nitrogen gas in a round chamber to cool the body for two and a half to three minutes, dropping temperatures inside from -150 to -300 F.
The machine can raise or lower the body to keep the head above the cold air. The patient, who wears underwear or a bathing suit and gloves and socks, stands inside for up to three minutes. Because it’s a controlled setting, the temperature extremes don’t harm the body. Instead, the cold stimulates the body to produce endorphins and redirects oxygenated blood supplies to vital organs.
Watson is encouraged by the results. His patients, he said, tell him that they feel more energetic and experience less pain from conditions such as arthritis, allergies, muscle and joint pain, anxiety, depression, headaches and insomnia. Sports injuries especially benefit from the process, he added.
Patients’ praise
Peninsula Wellness Centre patient Emily, who asked that her last name not be used, praised both the technique and Watson.
“Watson is awesome,” she said. “He makes it an enjoyable experience – even if it is cold. Every time I go in there, there are 70-year-olds dancing and bouncing around in there.”
Before starting whole body cryotherapy, Nelson had been visiting a chiropractor weekly but wasn’t finding it helpful. An active mother with two young children, she was hurting during and after exercising.
“I wasn’t recovering as fast as I wanted, so I googled ‘joint pain relievers,’” she said. “Now, I’m not one for Eastern medicine, but I found out about whole body cryotherapy and Peninsula Wellness Centre and decided to try it. It works. I began the treatments and I seem to have more energy. … I’m enjoying exercising again and it’s pain free.”
Nelson said the concept behind the treatment is age-old.
“I feel like heat and ice have been around for a huge number of years, and we know icing has merit for pain relief,” she said.
While some Watson patients noted that they found the actual experience “cold,” they endorsed the results.
“My back was sore and I went to Dr. Chris to make it go away,” said Mountain View resident Maureen Rugala, a 75-year-old nurse who’s been a caretaker for her husband since he had a stroke 23 years ago. “Whole body cryotherapy made the pain and inflammation go away.”
Rugala said the biggest benefit is that she’s “more energized” and managing better than she did before.
“Things seem to get done more quickly and frustrating projects are easier to handle,” she said. “Although the cold was a bit shocking initially, I now move and sing (while in the machine).”
Arthritis relief
Frank Kohlweiss of Redwood City suffers from psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune condition marked by joint stiffness, tenderness, pain, throbbing and swelling coupled with chronic psoriasis. Whole body cryotherapy, he said, has made a difference.
“I had arthritis in my knees and elbows, and I’m now more mobile and the psoriasis is going away,” he noted. “I don’t have that late-afternoon slump that you get. It’s very encouraging.”
Kohlweiss has had nearly 20 cryotherapy treatments. During the first two to three weeks, he went every other day, but now he is down to once or twice a week, as needed.
The owner of wholesale and retail auto supply stores, he can spend the entire day on his feet at a warehouse lifting heavy stock. The treatments help relieve his pain.
Some people are not candidates for whole body cryotherapy, including those with pacemakers, uncontrolled blood pressure, chronic heart disease and those with Raynaud’s disease.
Single treatments begin at $65 – the first treatment at $45. Packages are available.
Peninsula Wellness Centre is located at 2425 California St., Mountain View. For more information, call 961-2429 or visit peninsulawellnesscentre.com.
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