Video·3 min read·May 2026

Finding Balance: The Benefits of Whole Body Cryotherapy for Low Back Pain

Cold Therapy • 3 min read • Based on research by Marta Barłowska-Trybulec, Klaudia Zawojska, Joanna Szklarczyk, Marta Góralska (2022)

Low back pain is a common struggle for many, often affecting our daily activities and overall quality of life. If you’re among the millions grappling with this discomfort, you may be seeking effective remedies that offer real relief. One promising approach gaining attention is whole body cryotherapy (WBCT), a treatment that immerses the body in extremely cold temperatures to promote healing and recovery.

Recent research sheds light on how this innovative therapy can help those suffering from low back pain, particularly in patients with lumbar spine osteoarthritis. By understanding the science behind cryotherapy, we can appreciate how it might restore equilibrium and resilience in our bodies.

Understanding Whole Body Cryotherapy

Whole body cryotherapy involves exposure to frigid temperatures, typically around -130°C, for a short duration. This extreme cold acts as a stressor, prompting a series of hormonal responses in the body. Specifically, it stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol, a hormone that plays a crucial role in our body’s stress response.

In a recent study, participants with lumbar spine osteoarthritis underwent a series of WBCT sessions combined with therapeutic exercises. The results were noteworthy: the pain levels, measured using a visual analogue scale, showed a statistically significant reduction (p < 0.0001) after treatment. This suggests that cryotherapy can be an effective protocol for alleviating low back pain.

The Hormonal Response: Cortisol and Beyond

While the increase in β-endorphins, the body’s natural pain relievers, was not statistically significant, the rise in cortisol levels (p = 0.0009) indicates an active hormonal response to the cold exposure. This response may enhance the body’s ability to cope with pain and stress.

In practical terms, increased cortisol levels can signal the body to mobilize energy and resources, potentially facilitating recovery. However, it’s important to note that this stress response varies among individuals, which may explain the variability in pain relief experienced.

Integrating Cryotherapy into Your Wellness Routine

For those considering whole body cryotherapy as a part of their wellness ritual, it’s essential to approach it thoughtfully. This therapy can complement other recovery practices, such as therapeutic exercises and mindfulness techniques, creating a holistic sanctuary for healing.

As you explore the benefits of cryotherapy, remember to listen to your body and consult with healthcare professionals to tailor a protocol that suits your individual needs. The findings from the study suggest that a combination of WBCT and therapeutic exercises may pave the way for improved resilience and reduced discomfort.

Key Takeaways

Whole body cryotherapy can significantly reduce low back pain in patients with lumbar spine osteoarthritis.
The hormonal response, particularly the increase in cortisol, indicates a body-wide adaptation to cold exposure, which may enhance recovery.

Based on: Effect of whole body cryotherapy on low back pain and release of endorphins and stress hormones in patients with lumbar spine osteoarthritis
Marta Barłowska-Trybulec, Klaudia Zawojska, Joanna Szklarczyk, Marta Góralska (2022). Reumatologia

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Effect of whole body cryotherapy on low back pain and release of

The Pain Goes Down. But Why?

Here's what makes this paper quietly fascinating: the thing everyone expects to explain the pain relief doesn't show up in the data. Thirty patients with lumbar spine osteoarthritis, ten sessions of whole body cryotherapy at -130 degrees Celsius combined with therapeutic exercises, and the result is unambiguous — pain dropped, significantly, with a p-value below 0.0001. That's not a marginal effect. That's a clear biological signal.

But here's the puzzle. Beta-endorphins — the body's natural painkillers, the molecules we'd intuitively credit for that relief — went up only slightly. Not enough to reach statistical significance. Adrenaline also trended upward without hitting the threshold. The one thing that did reach significance? Cortisol. The stress hormone. The one we're usually trying to reduce.

When Cortisol Is the Good Guy

This is worth sitting with. Cortisol gets a bad reputation in wellness culture — chronic elevation is genuinely damaging to sleep, immunity, and metabolic health. But cortisol is also a potent anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid. When you're acutely stressed — and stepping into a -130 degree chamber absolutely qualifies — your adrenal glands flood your system with cortisol as part of the acute stress response. And in that context, cortisol is doing real work: suppressing inflammatory pathways, modulating immune activity, reducing tissue swelling around those compromised lumbar joints.

What the researchers from Jagiellonian University are documenting here isn't a failure to explain the mechanism — it's an invitation to look harder. The nervous system, the endocrine system, the musculoskeletal system — they're all responding to the cold stress simultaneously, and we're only measuring three hormones. Pain perception is modified at multiple levels: the spinal cord, the brainstem, the subcortical centers. Cryotherapy is hitting all of those at once.

The pain clearly goes down. The endorphins don't fully explain it. That gap — between what we measure and what we feel — is where the most interesting science lives.

What the Research Agrees On

The broader literature on cold therapy and musculoskeletal pain is consistent on the outcomes even when the mechanisms remain contested. Noradrenaline release from cold exposure is well-documented — it's why Andrew Huberman emphasizes the neurochemical cascade from cold water. Studies on rheumatoid arthritis patients undergoing WBCT show similar patterns to what this paper found in osteoarthritis. The body responds to cold stress in ways that reduce inflammation and improve mobility, regardless of which specific hormonal pathway carries the most weight.

The Protocol That Actually Matters

Notice what the researchers paired with the cryotherapy: 45 minutes of therapeutic exercise after every single session. Warmup, range-of-motion work, muscle strengthening, breathing. This wasn't incidental — it was structural. Cold followed by movement. Stress followed by recovery. The contrast isn't just thermal; it's systemic. Cryotherapy primes the nervous system, exercises the joints and musculature that need conditioning. Separating these two components would likely produce weaker results. If you're exploring cold therapy for chronic back pain, the combination is the protocol.

The Surprising Connection

Seventy percent of adults over 30 will experience low back pain at some point. It is, by sheer prevalence, one of the defining ailments of modern life. And yet this paper demonstrates measurable relief through a ten-session, two-week protocol of extreme cold exposure combined with exercise — no pharmaceuticals, no injections, no surgery. The mechanism is still being worked out. But the outcome isn't in question. Sometimes, the body knows how to heal. You just have to give it the right kind of stress to activate that capacity.

Effect of whole body cryotherapy on low back pain and release of endorphins and stress hormones in patients with lumbar spine osteoarthritis

Finding Balance: The Benefits of Whole Body Cryotherapy for Low Back Pain

Understanding Whole Body Cryotherapy

The Hormonal Response: Cortisol and Beyond

Integrating Cryotherapy into Your Wellness Routine

Key Takeaways

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