Cryotherapy for pain relief possible substitute for opioids

ONLY ON 3: Omaha trauma surgeon finds cryotherapy as possible strategy to replace opioids

Patient undergoes cryotherapy for pain relief for rib fractures

By: Isabella Basco

Posted at 6:32 PM, Jun 06, 2022 and last updated 7:32 PM, Jun 06, 2022

This article is a repost which originally appeared on KMTV 3 News Now

Edited for content. The opinions expressed in this article may not reflect the opinions of this site’s editors, staff or members.

Our Takeaways:

· Cryotherapy can be used as an alternative to opioids for pain relief.

· There is evidence recovery from trauma can be greatly accelerated using cryotherapy.

· Negative side effects may be reduced by using cryotherapy in lieu of more traditional means of treating trauma.

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — You could call Council Bluffs man Jim Berry an active man. He builds cars, loves drag racing and four-wheeling. But just a month ago, the four-wheeling went too far. An accident left him with several broken ribs.

“It felt like I had been pierced through my back and it would poke out here. So every movement was like the tip of the dagger moving back and forth and it was like digging in, like cut, cut, cut,” Berry said.

Initially, Berry was told he’d have to wait six to eight weeks to let his ribs heal naturally. But that didn’t work for his lifestyle or career, so CHI Health CUMC-Bergan Mercy Trauma Surgeon Dr. Carlos Fernandez decided to try something new.

“We wondered what else can we do? When the cryotherapy concept came about, it’s basically the freezing of the nerves using controlled temperature to cause a temporary and reversible damage to the nerve. It usually lasts two months and matches the healing time of rib fractures,” Fernandez said.

What happened after?

“No sharp pains, no ‘don’t do that’ pains really. But then again, I try to keep myself, I have no problems eating, moving,” Berry said.

“It was amazing for me to see how much he changed the next day,” Fernandez said.

CHI Health CUMC-Bergan Mercy is the first to prove the method works for rib fractures. Berry opted out of using prescription pain killers, a benefit Dr. Fernandez sees for other patients.

“This is one of the strategies to minimize exposure of patients to opioids. It’s a difficult puzzle and this is one of the answers to that puzzle, is how to battle and win the opioid pandemia,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez says he needs to do “randomized clinical trials” to confirm the findings. He hopes to expand the application of cryotherapy without surgery.

 

 

 

 

How the rich and famous are biohacking their homes

A pool and gym just don’t cut it any more. How about your very own cryotherapy chamber or red-light therapy bed? Helen Kirwan-Taylor investigates the new ‘biohacking’ home technology promising to supercharge your health

By Helen Kirwan-Taylor
16 May 2022

This article is a repost which originally appeared on TATLER

Edited for content. The opinions expressed in this article may not reflect the opinions of this site’s editors, staff or members.

Our Takeaways:

· The use of infra-red light treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy are considered stables of biohacking.

· While not absolutely necessary, some biohacking tools and practices can be very expensive.

· While expensive treatments are available, they do not replace foundational aspects of nutrition and natural living.

If you don’t sleep in a hyperbaric oxygen pod, like Justin Bieber, or at the very least on an infrared mattress, then what’s wrong with you? Do you have self-esteem issues? These days, you need to get with the biohacking programme. Just look around wealthy London: the diggers are in, basements are being excavated, and oxygen chambers and flotation tanks are being speedily installed. Behold the new temples to the pursuit of youth.

Biohacking, if you didn’t know, is the practice of interfering with your own biology in an attempt to improve it. Staples include infra-red light treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which delivers pure, pressurised oxygen to the body. Amazing claims are made for both. But what’s really astounding is the size of this elite, luxury market: the consultancy firm McKinsey predicts that over the next decade biohacking could become a trillion-dollar industry.

Already almost every aspect of it has been nano-hacked. For example, there’s no longer any need to fast now that you can have ProLon meals (which trick the body into autophagy, or cell-cleansing) delivered to your door. Or you could just pop two longevity spermidine supplement pills (a favourite of the Vivamayr clinic) and achieve the same effect. Similarly, if ice baths sound like too much hard work, you can always clamber into your own thermal shock chamber (try it out first at Ice Health Cryotherapy in Kensington – unlike most cryotherapy chambers, it doesn’t require full immersion and can therefore be used while you listen to music). And rather than follow a restrictive keto diet to burn fat and increase mental clarity, you can simply knock back some deltaG – at £59.99 for a 59ml mouthful, the most expensive keto drink on earth. Created by Oxford professor Kieran Clarke and available to buy from Wellgevity, it’s like drinking a high-octane body fuel and a sip or two will allow you to glide through the most difficult presentation.

But no doubt your wellness consultant will tell you that. Enter Julie Cichocki. The founder of the ‘wellness curator’ Kloodos, Cichocki is a one-woman hacking machine who can provide you with what is currently only available to celebrities or athletes. I happen to ring her as she is on her way to Southampton to create a complete biohack unit in the house of a self- made tycoon and, for a taster, she sends me to Repose on High Street Kensington to try out the number- one contraption on the market: the £60,000 Mitogen photobiomodulation (red-light therapy) bed. Its light goes so deep, says Cichocki, that it triggers the production of the magical, all-singing, all-dancing source of youth – a cell-energising molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

For ultimate relaxation, Cichocki continues, ‘the bed allows you to surrender and move into critical beta mode’ – and it is often the first piece of kit she will put into the houses of her high-net-worth clients. Most likely, this will be followed by a whole-body cryo-chamber (£125,000), a hyperbaric oxygen chamber (£75,000), a dry float tank (£27,000) and an infra- red sauna (£6,000), plus an ice bath and plunge pool.

‘It’s not unusual for clients to spend upwards of £150,000,’ says Cichocki. And why not? Biohacking promises great things, from cell renewal to disease prevention; it’s no wonder every Hollywood star, Silicon Valley magnate and premier athlete is kit-ting out their home gyms with the latest that technology can provide.

The ‘gateway’ hack is infrared light – supplied in panel form by Bryan Gohl of Red Light Rising, whose ‘Armoury’ model costs around £12,000 and is about the same size as a door. (The actor Tom Hopper swears by it and has bought two for his personal use, in ‘The Advantage XL’ size.) Its applications go way beyond enhancing performance and energy. ‘Some people claim it helps their eye- sight,’ says Gohl. ‘Others, that it eases their menopause symptoms. And we know it really helps with muscle pain and joint stiffness.’ Other pluses? It acts like a giant seasonal affective disorder (SAD) corrective light; it doesn’t stop you from being able to scroll through Instagram while you use it, as the infrared beds do; and many, myself included, have found it useful in combatting long-Covid symptoms.

Then there’s hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a fashionable hack at the moment because, apart from helping to speed up recovery from operations or illnesses, it can also help brush away the mental cobwebs. City types in particular are addicted to its ‘natural high’ nd can be found in droves at The Wellness Lab in Knightsbridge after the markets close. (A bonus of the spaceship-like chambers is that they double as divans.) And don’t forget intravenous infusions such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) – the ultimate anti-ageing chemical, endorsed by celebrities including the actress Davinia Taylor – which is available at Hum2n in Chelsea.

 

Biohacking for beginners: The 4 basic things a doctor wants you to know before thinking about biohacking

Posted by Chloe Gray for Wellbeing

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Stylist

Edited for content. The opinions expressed in this article may not reflect the opinions of this site’s editors, staff or members.

Our Takeaways:

· Research and a medical check up should be performed before engaging in biohacking

· There’s been a greater than 8-fold increase in Google searches for biohacking information

· Focusing on strengthening the foundation should be a priority over niche treatments

If you’re curious about biohacking, here’s what a doctor wants you to know beforehand.

The term “biohacking” came into the public consciousness a few years ago via Silicone Valley execs who sought to improve their efficiency by attempting to hack their biology. Their habits ranged from taking slightly obscure supplements to adding microchips into their body to “improve their magnetic field” and life span (yes, really).

Now these habits have gone mainstream (OK, maybe not the microchip one) and it’s easy enough to land on the term with a two-minute scroll on social media. Google searches of “biohacking for beginners” have increased 850% over the past 12 months, and many of us have tried something a little obscure that’s promised to improve how our body functions, whether that’s fasted exercise or SAD lamps.

But things have gone too far. At least, that’s according to Dr Adrian Chavez, who is fiercely anti-biohacking. His concern? “It’s marketing. People end up spending time doing these things that are half-truths when they could have spent that time actually doing the things that people need to do to improve their health,” he tells Stylist.
Why anti-biohacking?

Dr Chavaz’s anti-biohacking journey began after he fell for the trend himself. “I started being interested in nutrition because of a health issue that I had. I went to a doctor and they didn’t really help me out very much, so I changed my diet and I was able to improve my digestive health.

“At that point, I started googling information and I landed on a lot of fringe sites. I was in my early 20s, getting a master’s degree in exercise science and I believed a lot of the obscure ‘biohacking’ stuff I was finding, so I completely shifted my degree to nutrition. But as you do a PhD programme, you learn science. And I learned that a lot of the stuff that I believed before is pretty ridiculous in some cases, but oftentimes dangerous.”

The real frustration for him is that we want to (or believe we should) start with the niche treatments before we’ve even nailed the basics. And when things like greens powders or cryotherapy don’t work, people give up at improving their health.

“The evidence for cold water exposure, for example, is a few poor papers. But we know that and have the evidence for 30 minutes of exercise every day reducing your risk of almost every chronic disease known to man. We need to be doing more of that than we do getting into a cold pool and seeing how that might hack our biology,” he says.

So why don’t we? Why do some people feel that “nutrigenomics” (eating in line with your genes) is more important than just eating their five a day? “The basics are boring,” he says. Meanwhile, bio-hacking ‘experts’ have sussed out the Instagram algorithm to excite us with new buzzwords that mean we forget about broccoli and bedtime in favour of expensive solutions.

In fact, that’s why Dr Chavez focuses his content on the concept of anti-biohacking. “​​I realised a long time ago that if I said, ‘Hey guys, eat fruits and vegetables,’ there’s no way people would respond. So I try to frame my content in a way that will take off, but all I’m saying is focus on the basic stuff before spending money and time worrying about the extremes,” he said.

What exactly is that basic stuff then? What should we be doing, if not taking IV vitamin drips?

The four basic elements of health

Sleeping

“I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met that claim they are lacking energy and are trying to find the solution when they just need to sleep more,” says Dr Chavez.

Around three-quarters of people in Britain get less than eight hours of sleep a night, according to YouGov, and a recent study from Southampton University found that one in four also suffer sleep problems (mainly impacting women and people from marginalised backgrounds).

The scenario is similar in America, where 35% of people report less than seven hours of sleep. Yet 40% of people in the US have tried CBD. But the toughest pill to swallow is that the sleep crisis is real, and we can’t hack our way out of our biological need to sleep.

Hydrating

Dr Chavez jokes: “I think you guys in the UK get more hydration because you drink tea.” But in any case, he recommends drinking half your body weight in pounds in ounces of water (this is an American customary calculation, but you can work it out with a digital converter or stick with the average recommendation of two litres of water a day).

“A lot of people complain about constipation or headaches who just don’t drink water. Not always, but often some of that stuff will go away when you just drink more – ideally non-caffeinated – water,” he says.

Eating well

71% of UK adults take food supplements, according to the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially as we need to top up on essential minerals like vitamin D. The problem is when we compare that to the stats showing only 27% of us eat our five a day.

“Nutrition is the most complicated area of all,” Dr Chavez says. “But my general recommendation is to focus on having balanced meals throughout the day – it doesn’t matter if it’s two, three or four,” he says. “Just make sure that you have a decent amount of protein, some vegetables, some carbohydrates that are high in fibre (or not, depending on how many vegetables you have) and that all of your meals are set up to meet your energy needs,” he says.

That sounds simple enough, but in a world that recommends excluding a lot of main food groups or adding in obscure ingredients, it’s actually pretty hard to ignore the noise and eat the basics. “Less processed food, more fruits and vegetables, not too many fatty meats,” Dr Chavez summarises. You can walk away from the £50 greens powder for now.

Exercising

“I always recommend this is the one everyone starts with because it’s the easiest and has the biggest knock-on effect on all of the other elements,” he says. “Simply move every day. It doesn’t have to be a crazy workout routine – the bare minimum should be a 30-minute walk around the block. But make it any type of movement you enjoy – running, chasing around your kids, anything!”

Around 39% of people in the UK don’t hit their recommended 150 minutes of activity a week, and a lot of the people who are missing out are from poor or minority backgrounds. But one huge issue is that our lives are designed for inactivity, Dr Chavez says.

“Many of us are sitting for work and then we sit in a car and then sit at home to watch television and then go to sleep and we’re just getting no movement whatsoever. Going from that to 30 minutes is a massive benefit for most people,” he says.

Personalised additions

I ask Dr Chavez if, when those four basics are nailed, there’s anywhere else to go. Are these basics the upper threshold of health-promoting habits and everything else a biohacking lie, or can we still implement additional behaviours?

“One million percent there is more you can do,” he says. “I can get into all of the nuances of nutrition that someone might try for various reasons, but that’s specific advice that doesn’t suit the whole population. The problem is people get too lost in the details and on tailoring their habits before focusing on sleeping, exercising, etc and it’s just a waste of time. There’s a time for the extras, but you have to start with the basics.”

It’s important to emphasise the “personalised” aspect of any extra habits, he says. They need to be figured out based on your health or illness and ideally with an expert or at least an inquisitive eye so you can monitor what is working and what isn’t. “But there are 175 other things I’d recommend before cold exposure,” Dr Chavez concludes.

Biohacking 101: A Novice’s Guide to Molding Your Mind and Boosting Your Body

The fountain of youth (and performance) has never felt closer. Just check out these seven stepping stones.

By Hayley Helms

Updated: Jan 15, 2022

This article is a repost which originally appeared on GEAR PATROL

Edited for content

We’re in the infancy of 2022, and the air is thick with resolutions. People are eating healthier, growing their savings accounts and shrinking their waistlines.

You’ve probably got your fitness routine mapped out for the first month of the year, and maybe it includes lifting more weights, running more miles or squatting more squats. But does your carefully planned regimen include biohacking?

First off, what is biohacking? To the uninitiated, it sounds like some sort of sci-fi cyborg concept, and for the fringes of the biohacking community that are getting microchips implanted in their brains, bionic eyes and the like, that’s exactly what it is.

But for the average, about-to-be-above-average person, biohacking covers any clever DIY shortcut that provides an unexpected edge: heat and cold therapy, infrared saunas, intermittent fasting, adding adaptogens and supplements to your routine, and so on. Heck, you may even be biohacking right now, and not even know it.

The cleanest definition comes from self-help guru Tony Robbins and co.: “Biohacking your body means changing your chemistry and your physiology through science and self-experimentation to increase energy and vitality.”

Biohacking is rich with opportunities to maximize your workouts, heal your body and enhance your overall performance. It can be as basic as switching to organic foods and beverages — or as complex as cryotherapy to reboot your cellular system.

Need guidance where to start? I suggest keeping it simple. As noted in our recent Library of Pursuits course, one of the most helpful methods in developing a plan is to identify your goals, then tailor biohacking methods to help you reach them. Try hacks that fit into your existing lifestyle. They’ll be easier to implement and stick to — and give you the confidence to branch out from there.

Here are seven realistic jumping-off points — complete with products to optimize your experience, of course. Happy hacking.

1. Get More Out of Your Morning Joe

The jury is still out on whether coffee, or more specifically, caffeine, is beneficial for health, but if you’ve determined it works for you, try upgrading it. Biohacking works best when it can be integrated into already firmly set habits; as any ca-fiend knows, it’s an integral part of the morning routine.

Four Sigmatic’s coffee is infused with mushrooms and adaptogens, giving you a jolt of energy with caffeine, but also balance, brain power or restoration, depending what you need. The Ground Mushroom Coffee With Lion’s Mane is the “Think” brew, thanks to 250mg of lionsmane and chaga mushrooms, each. Lionsmane has been shown to increase focus and brain function, while chaga has been used for centuries to support immune function. Swapping out your standard brew for this tasty upgrade is an easy and hassle-free hack.

2. Eat Drink Your Greens

You’ve been told to eat your greens since childhood, but I’m willing to bet there are a fair amount of you out there, reading these words, avoiding those leafy greens like the plague.

Avoid health no longer, and enjoy the perks of produce with Athletic Greens, a powder supplement that can be added to water or smoothies and contains a hard-to-believe amount of goodness inside every single scoop serving.

Athletic Greens checks all the modern dietary marks: It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and contains no added sugar. What isn’t it free from? I’m glad you asked. The powerful powder contains the equivalent of 12 servings of fruits and veggies per scoop, as well as probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and immune-supporting mushrooms.

3. Take the Plunge

One of the more popular biohacking methods, plunging yourself into icy cold water, may sound like a recipe for disaster (or catching a cold), but studies as well as anecdotal evidence are showing that immersing yourself in cold water daily has a wealth of health benefits, including immune system support, increased blood flow, boosted metabolism and sleep, increased energy and lowered inflammation, to name a few.

Cold water plunges are a form of whole body cryotherapy, a method of biohacking that exposes you to extremely cold temperatures, which initially constricts blood flow. Upon leaving the plunge tank, there’s a rush of blood back to the tissues. Consistent practice brings benefits including reduced inflammation, faster muscle recovery, reduced risk of dementia and more.

The Plunge uses cooling, filtration and sanitation to deliver clean and cold water — think, 39 degrees Fahrenheit cold — whenever you want it. You can use it inside or outside, depending where you live.

4. Score Some Magic Mushrooms

No, not those magic mushrooms. We’re talking about the non-psychoactive, but still powerful kind — reishi, lion’s mane, chaga, cordyceps and turkey tail. Collectively, these five fungi are loaded with antioxidants, plus the potential to improve mood and immunity, boost energy, fight inflammation and maybe even fight cancer. You can add them to curries, salads, risottos or other dishes, or if you’re looking for a quicker option, you can take them in powder form.

Alchemi makes a mushroom powder that’s tasty on its own thanks to ingredients like cinnamon, cacao and coconut milk, but you can also add it to teas and chai lattes for a flavor — and brain — boost.

5. Pour a Cleaner Glass of Vino

You may not partake in Dry January, and that’s cool. To each their own. If you’re going to keep indulging into the new year, there are a couple ways to still incorporate a bit of body-friendly biohacking. The first option? Simply cut back your consumption. The second option: Upgrade your drink of choice to something cleaner, with fewer chemicals and less sugar than traditional alcohol.

Have your lips ever gotten stained from a glass of red wine? Yeah, that’s not just because of your favorite cab’s hue — that’s dye, added to make reds appear redder and more appealing. Grossed out? Switch to natural wines, which are farmed organically, have no additives or processing and are produced with natural fermentation.

One standout is Dry Farms Wine, which creates non-processed wines that go above and beyond the industry standards, resulting in a drink that’s free of sugar and additives, lower alcohol and produced with organic farming methods. The wines are keto and paleo friendly, vegan and biodynamic.

Sign up for its membership program, and pick your wine color, box size and how often you’d like to enjoy it. Dry Farms curates a box unique to your choices, alongside a 100% Happiness Promise, offering to either replace the bottle or refund you in full if you’re not satisfied.

6. Roll It Out

Foam rolling, a biohack? Why not?

Although it may feel like a commonplace technique, foam rolling is a recovery biohack, offering benefits including relieved muscle tightness and tension, increased range of motion, improved relaxation and sleep, and relief from back pain.

There are a multitude of foam rollers on the market, but I recommend the Trigger Point Grid 1.0 Foam Roller. The multi-density foam on the surface works out sore muscles, and also channels blood and oxygen to all the right places for enhanced muscle recovery. At under $40, it’s affordable, portable and easy to use.

7. Meditate On It

You’ve no doubt heard about the benefits of meditation. Although it’s a practice rooted deeply in history, over the last few years everyone and their brother seems to be touting its benefits, from CEOs to celebrities.

There’s a reason why: Studies show that a consistent meditation practice can yield reduced stress, better sleep, increased focus and improved relationships. But how do you fit it into a busy schedule? And how do you even meditate, anyway?

Meditation apps like Headspace answer your burning questions and provide guidance as you embark on your mindfulness mission. Based in research, Headspace offers a 10-day beginner’s course as part of its free trial, and once you subscribe, hundreds of exercises for mindfulness, sleep, focus and more. You can listen on your phone, tablet or computer, or even download sessions to check out when you are, say, seeking a little solace while masked up the middle row on a cross-country flight.