Effect of frequent WBC treatments on the back pain therapy in elderly men

Abstract

Cryotherapy is the application of a stimulus of a cryotherapeutic temperature below -100 °C in a period of 1-3 min in order to stimulate and use physiological reactions of human body to cold. It can be applied to specific body parts or to a whole body. Whole-body cryotherapy is a treatment method applied in treatment of motor organ issues, nervous system diseases, psychiatry, dermatology and laryngology. The research group consisted of 80 male in the age range of 65-77 suffering from chronic, lasting more than 3 months, lower back pain. The subjects qualified to the research were divided into two groups. Group A consisted of 40 patients who participated in whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) twice a week. Group B also contained 40 patients who participated in WBC whole week. Examinations were conducted twice. The first one was conducted before the commencement of the treatment while the second one after the therapy was over. The results of the research did not show any statistically significant improvement in patients from Group A. However, the results obtained by Group B have proven significant condition improvement and enable the researchers to conclude that WBC is effective in treating patients with lower back pain.

Keywords: Elderly men; frequent WBC; lumbar spine pain symptoms; whole-body cryotherapy.