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Cryo is more popular with today’s players, with LeBron, Stephen Curry, Karl-Anthony Towns, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Harrison Barnes, Vince Carter, Ben Simmons, D’Angelo Russell, Tobias Harris, Stanley Johnson, Dahntay Jones, JaVale McGee and many others trying it or doing it consistently as part of their regimen.
“It’s been phenomenal for me and my recovery,” Anderson said. “Now, I’m not sore at all during or after games because I’m doing the right things to take care of my body. There are so many benefits. It’s really cold when you’re in the chamber, but three minutes fly by quickly. Then, when you step out, it’s the best feeling ever. It’s almost like you never had any issues or soreness.”
“After I tried it the first time, my body felt amazing,” Memphis Grizzlies forward Jarell Martin told HoopsHype. “Now, I try to use it whenever I’m sore or my legs are feeling heavy. I try to get in the cryo chamber about once a week. We have one in our facility in Memphis. This summer, I put in a lot of hard work and I needed to find ways to get my body feeling right, feeling good. The trainers recommended cryotherapy and it’s been amazing.”
“I do cryotherapy now,” former Philadelphia 76ers guard Xavier Silas said. “I had tried everything – from the cold tub to icing to electric stimulation to dry-needling to ultrasound. Cryo has definitely helped me. Doing these things is just part of playing this game; it comes with this job. When you’re serious about your craft, you’re going to give anything a try if it helps you stay on top of your game. Our bodies are so important to what we do, but we break our bodies down every single day. Because of that, we have to do these things to make sure our body feels good and allows us to remain productive.”
It’s common for players to be shocked at how cold the chamber is and sometimes the body doesn’t know how to respond. Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton warns his players before their first cryotherapy experience, telling them, “The first time is the worst. Your mind is telling you, ‘I might die.’”
Walton is a big believer in cryotherapy, though. In fact, many executives and coaches have embraced the treatment, with some organizations buying their own cryo chamber and encouraging their players to use it.
“Every guy has to find their own treatment or regimen that will help them,” said Jared Jeffries, who played in the NBA for 11 seasons and now works in the Denver Nuggets’ front office as a pro personnel scout. “You play so many games and it’s a long season, so you have to try different things. Be creative and [open-minded].”
“Each year, you hear about something new that comes into play on the recovery circuit,” said a Western Conference coach, who spoke under the condition of anonymity. “This is a copycat league, so if someone has success with a certain recovery method or treatment, it catches on quickly. I remember, back in the day, Stephon Marbury took ballet classes so everyone was like, ‘Ah, ballet! It makes you limber and helps your body without putting impact on your knees! Let’s try it!’ Then, yoga took over. And yoga is great – I used to take all of my players to yoga sessions to work on flexibility, breathing and things like that. But my point is that if a team finds something that helps their players, other teams will try to duplicate that success.
“The cold tub has been around forever, but now the cryo chamber has taken it to the next level and everyone is using it,” the coach continued. “We used to have guys go in the cold tub for three minutes and then go in the steam room for three minutes and then keep alternating. Some guys still do that, but cryotherapy is a game-changer because it’s only two-and-a-half minutes and some experts say you get the equivalent of being in the cold tub for an hour. It’s so effective.”
Cryotherapy’s increased popularity in the NBA has largely been due to word of mouth. Players rave about feeling refreshed and no longer dealing with soreness, so naturally their teammates and friends around the league want to try it too.
“During my rookie year with the Mavericks, a few of my vets told me that cryotherapy was definitely something that I needed to try rather than doing the cold plunge every day after practice,” Anderson said. “The NBA season is so long and the schedule is tough, so my vets always told me, ‘Hey, make sure you take care of your body; the best investment you can make is in yourself.’ So I would do cold tub, cold tub, cold tub. Then, eventually, Harrison Barnes, Deron Williams and Dwight Powell taught me about cryo. They were like, ‘You’ve never done cryo before?!’ I was like, ‘No! I’ve seen them, but we didn’t have access to that kind of stuff in college!’ They ended up taking me and ever since then, I’ve used it. That’s when I started figuring out that if I want to play at an optimal level, I need to invest the time and money into my body.” |
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