The report recommends the Game Ready cryotherapy system as the most effective method for athletes seeking fast recovery without high costs. It analyzed whole body cryotherapy, ice baths, and the Game Ready system based on effectiveness, timeliness, and cost efficiency. While ice baths are cheapest, the Game Ready system is as timely and more effective. It can target specific injured areas, unlike whole body cryotherapy. The report thus concludes the Game Ready system provides the best balance of benefits for athlete recovery.

1. RECOMMENDATION REPORT
ON CRYOTHERAPY METHODS
FOR NATA
Presented by Dominique Vela
Reasearch done by Dominique Vela and Zelyna Borrego
NATA is the National Athletic Training
Association

2. OVERVIEW
• INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
• METHODS OF RESEARCH
• RESULTS OF RESEARCH
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION

3. INTRODUCTION
• Cryotherapy is a way to reduce pain for acute and even long term injuries. Mostly used by
athletes, cryotherapy has been used for centuries for rehabilitation purposes and delayed
onset muscle soreness recovery.
• “Easy way to reuce pain and can be used effectively to reduce pain in a certain area.” (Bleakly,
2014)
• “Ice reduced tissue temperatire, blood flow, pain, and metabolism” (Hubbard, n.d.)
• There are many ways to use cryotherapy, in our research we focused on the effects of whole
body cryotherapy, the game ready system, and ice baths.
• We investigated each method by three criteria.
1. Timeliness
2. Cost efficiency
3. Most effective
• The purpose of the report was to recommend the most effective method of cryotherapy to
use on athletes that are trying to recover fast but do not have to spend a lot of money.

4. METHODS TASK 1: GATHER INFO FROM EXPERTS ON THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF EACH MODALITY
• Database used: www.ncbi.gov
• Keywords: cryotherapy, game ready, rehabilitiation, effectiveness
• Of 6 articles reviewed only 2 were cited

5. METHODS TASK 2: GATHER INFO ON THE TIMELINESS OF EACH
MODALITY BY USING SECONDARY RESOURCES
• Database used: www.ncbi.org
• Keywords: timeliness, cryotherapy, rehabilitation, athletes
• For Whole body cryotherapy we used the official WBC website.
• Out of the 5 articles reviewed only 2 were cited.

6. TASK 3: RESEARCH THE COST
• Search engine used: www.google.com
• We searched for local physical therapy clinics that could tell us the price of a hour
session to use each modality.
• For ice baths we did our own research and went to a local corner store to find the
price of a 10 lb bag of ice.

7. RESULTS TASK 1: GATHER INFO FROM EXPERTS ON THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF WHOLE BODY CRYOTHERAPY
• Whole Body Cryotherapy
• Whole body recovery
• “Increased flexibility, better endurance, decreased recovery time and reduced inflammation
over your entire body” (CRYOFIT, 2014)
• Helps the body by increasing blood flow
• Game Ready
• Combination of compression and cold
• More for athletes who need cryotherapy in a specific area
• Ice Baths
• Full body relief (good for DOMS)
• Reduces inflammation
• “Specifically, the cold whirlpool has become an increasingly popular modality due to its
ability to treat larger areas...” (Patterson, n.d.)

8. RESULTS TASK 2: GATHER INFO ON THE TIMELINESS OF EACH
MODALITY BY USING SECONDARY RESOURCES
• Whole Body Cryotherapy
• 2-3 minutes
• Game Ready
• 15 minutes
• Ice Baths
• 15 minutes

9. RESULTS TASK 3: RESEARCHED THE
COST
• Whole Body Cryotherapy
• $40-$50 per session in the WBC chamber (restorecryotherapy.com)
• Game Ready
• $50-$60 per physical therapy session to use the Game Ready system
• Ice Baths
• $10-$15 dollars for a few bags of ice

10. CONCLUSION
Method Timeliness Cost Efficiency
Whole body cryo 9 7 6
Ice baths 7 9 7
Game Ready 7 5 9
1 = bad 10 = good

11. CONCLUSION
• The cost of whole body cryotherapy is a little cheaper based on local physical
therapy clinics that use WBC vs. using the game ready system.
• Although ice baths are cheaper, they require the same time as the game ready
system and are less effective.
• The game ready system costs a little more to be used than WBC but its effectiveness
is through the roof and takes the same amount of time as an ice bath.

12. RECOMMENDATION
• Best choice: Game ready system
• Athletes can many different parts of the body they have received an acute injury on.
• More High Schools and Colleges should have the Game Ready system available to
their athletes.

13. SOURCES
• Hubbard, T.J., & Denegar, C.R. (n.d.). Does Cryotherapy Improves Outcomes With
Soft Tissue Injury? Retrieved March 11, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.gov
• S. (2014, July 22). Dr Chris Bleakley on the benefits of Cryotherapy. Retrieved April
19, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com
• C. (2014). CRYOFIT. Retrieved from http://www.mycryofit.com/
• Patterson, S.M., Udermann, B.E., Doberstein, S.T., & Reineke, D.M. (n.d.). The Effects
of Cold Whirlpool on Power, Speed, Agility, and Range of Motion. Retrieved March
11, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.org
• Restore Cryotherapy | Cryotherapy Austin | Whole Body Cryotherapy. (n.d.).
Retrieved May 06, 2016, from http://www.restorecryotherapy.com/