Dr. Liam Hennessy is the Fitness Director of the IRFU. He has
been using cryotherapy on IRFU players for 6 years. Cryotherapy
is the removal of heat from a body part to decrease cellular
metabolism, increase cellular survival, decrease inflammation
and decrease pain and spasm. The IRFU have been doing research
in this area. They use cryotherapy specifically for limiting the
damage caused by training, allowing players to recover faster
between training sessions. When an athlete trains hard micro-
damage occurs in the muscles. Cryotherapy works in the same way
that putting ice on something to reduce swelling but on a micro
level. Instead of temperatures of +4 which only treat the
superficial layer of the skin - you’re talking about
temperatures of -110 which penetrate to the muscle level.
Cryotherapy affects the neuro-muscular system and endocrine
system of the body. There are 3 areas that the IRFU have focused
their research on: - Cryotheraphy after training reduces the
level of a damaging enzyme and limits the