health & wellness »

I
The
Cold-Hard
Facts

Deep-freeze treatments can reduce
pain, improve your skin and help
you lose weight.

Jackie Headapohl | Managing Editor

t sounds like science fic-
tion. Subject yourself to
temperatures from -160 to
-260 repeatedly for up to three
minutes each time and reap
the rewards of less pain, more
energy and focus, a boosted
metabolism, faster-growing hair
and nails, younger-looking skin
and sounder sleep.
It’s called cryotherapy and,
while it is nothing new, cryo-
treatment centers are popping
up with more frequency, thanks
in part to the increased use of
the technology by elite athletes
like Kobe Bryant and Lebron
James, who use it for post-game
recovery.
Cold icepacks have been
used to treat pain and inflam-
mation for thousands of years.
Cryotherapy, which uses nitro-
gen vapors to achieve a quick
freeze, was developed in the
1970s by a Japanese rheumatolo-
gist. It’s been popular in Europe
for decades.
A quick review of the scientif-
ic literature reveals there is not a
lot of compelling scientific evi-
dence that cryotherapy is effec-
tive for treating muscle soreness.
Therefore, it is not approved by
the FDA to treat any specific
condition. However, not many

studies on the topic have been
done. I also discovered there’s
not a lot of compelling scientific
evidence that icepacks work to
reduce pain and swelling either.
But if you sprain your ankle,
guess what advice you’ll get
from your doctor? Yep, put ice
on it.
Anecdotally, there is plenty of
evidence that cryotherapy does
help some people reduce pain,
look younger, get more energy
and lose weight. I decided to
reach out to two Jewish-owned
cryotherapy businesses to see for
myself.

HOW IT
WORKS
Dr. Sol
Cogan,
owner of
HealthQuest
Chiropractic,
opened his
CryoWellness
Dr. Sol Cogan
USA cen-
ters in
Farmington
Hills and Plymouth in
December. He graciously invited
me in to give it a go.
Cogan, who lives with his wife
and two kids in Bloomfield Hills
and belongs to Temple Israel,

Cold Beauty Treatments

D

emi Moore, Kate Moss, Jessica Alba
and Jennifer Aniston all swear by
cryotherapy for beautiful younger-looking
skin. According to one industry website,
during the treatment “the blood vessels
constrict to help maintain body tempera-
ture. When you warm up, these dilate and
blood rushes to the skin’s surface, giving
the complexion a rosy glow.”
Want to try it for
yourself? Head over to
Boost CryoSpa in Sugar
Tree Square next to the
Orchard Mall in West
Bloomfield.
The spa was started
by Ross Niskar, who
used to work in the
Ross Niskar
mortgage industry. He
and his partner started
Boulder Financial,
a business within the Rock Financial/
Quicken Loans company.
In early 2015, he came across cryothera-
py while watching TV.

36 June 30 • 2016

A Cryofacial treatment

“Shortly thereafter, I saw Lebron James
talking about his use of whole-body
cryotherapy as a way to recover from the
tough NBA schedule. It piqued my inter-
est,” he said. He began to do extensive
research, even working with the scientist
who first brought cryotherapy to the U.S.
Soon, Niskar, who lives in Royal Oak
with daughter Bella and attends Temple
Israel, was sold on making a business out
of it.
Boost CryoSpa offers a Cryofacial, a dry
treatment that takes only 10 minutes with-

Local spot treatments

out the need to remove your makeup. The
Cryofacial uses pressurized liquid nitrogen
vapors that are applied to the face and
neck to stimulate the production of colla-
gen and decrease pore size.
“The skin becomes tighter, more even-
toned and blood circulation is improved,”
Niskar said. “Over time, skin becomes more
elastic due to the increase in collagen.”
But cryotherapy’s benefits to the skin
are more than just about looking younger.
Niskar has a client whose 4-year-old son
has eczema. “She had tried all kinds of top-

was a doctor for the Detroit
Lions for 14 years when he first
starting hearing the buzz on
cryotherapy around the training
room.
“Mr. Ford asked me to do
some research, and I fell in love
with the technology,” Cogan
said. “Logistically, it wouldn’t
work for the team, but it fit right
into my practice, where I’m
always looking for new technol-
ogies to help my patients with
chronic pain.”
I asked him how it works.
To summarize: When you’re in
that very cold chamber, your
body automatically thinks you’re
freezing. Your blood vessels con-
strict and that forces the blood
to your core to protect your
vital organs. The blood becomes
oxygenated and nutrient dense.
When you come out of the
chamber, your blood vessels
dilate and that freshly oxygen-
ated blood goes to the rest of
your body.
“You get an endorphin rush,
kind of like a runner’s high,
which is really the world’s stron-
gest painkiller,” Cogan said.
“Everyone comes out smiling.”
Cogan adds that many of his
clients with chronic pain walk
out pain-free, which lasts from

ical ointments and nothing worked. But
this does,” he said. “She drives an hour to
the spa every time her son has a flare-up.”
Boost CryoSpa also offers localized
cryotherapy (or spot treatments) to reduce
pain, inflammation and swelling in tar-
geted areas.
“I like to call it ‘an ice pack on steroids,’”
Niskar said. “Our clients report this to be
much more effective and efficient than
traditional icing methods.
“We have seen success with carpal tun-
nel, gout and multiple sore body areas.
This process has also shown excellent
results for people with migraines and con-
cussions.”
Niskar said he’s had clients who’ve seen
benefits for depression symptoms, energy
and poor sleep, “but the biggest benefit
seems to be pain relief,” he says. “Many of
my clients have been able to reduce or
eliminate pain medication by using whole-
body cryotherapy. I could go on and
on.”

*

Boost CryoSpa, 6253 Orchard Lake Road, West
Bloomfield, www.westbloomfieldspas.com, (248) 251-
0885. Spot treatments start at $30. Facials cost $40.
Packages are available to reduce cost.

