Diving into the Science of Recovery
Instead of exploring a different form of exercise this week, we’re going to look at the flip side of exercise — recovery. For everyone who exercises regularly, and especially if you engage in high-intensity exercise, it’s important to recognize the value of recovery. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, “recovery is key to preventing injuries and allowing the body to rebuild itself after the stress of exercise. Our muscles, tendons, ligaments and energy stores require recovery, repair and replenishment to perform at our best.” They recommend at least 48 hours between higher intensity exercise of the same muscle groups, which “allows your muscles the opportunity to rebuild themselves and reduces the risk of overtraining.”
The cornerstones of recovery are nutrition, good sleep and regular days off. But that doesn’t mean just sitting on the couch watching Ted Lasso — there’s good evidence that active recovery is superior to inactivity, resting completely or sitting. Which is what brought me to the Biohacking and Recovery Center located in The Shops in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Dr. Justin Thompson, the most recent physician to join our team at Ironwood Family Practice, met me there on a recent Saturday to try their tools to enhance recovery. With his military background in analyzing complex systems and love of research, I knew he’d be the perfect person to bring along to try these modalities.
Arriving at their new location in The Shops, we met Gunnar Amos, recovery manager for BioPerformance Institute (BPI), who took us through the Regener8 protocol. We started with PEMF, or Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy. Originally used by NASA astronauts so they could stay connected to earth’s electromagnetic field, PEMF theoretically promotes anti-inflammatory responses and increases bone density. While relaxing on PEMF mats for 10 minutes, we also tried Brainwave Entrainment — think VR goggles that use light pulsations to synchronize the hemispheres of your brain and put the body in a calm, relaxed state. Although I didn’t notice much from PEMF, I liked that it was a “no phone zone" and the Brainwave Entrainment was meditative.
Next, I took a dive in the Hyperbaric Oxygen (or HBO) chamber while Dr. Thompson went off to the sauna and cryo cave. HBO has been used for decades in medicine for treating burns, infections, frostbite and decompression sickness. More recently, it’s being used for regeneration processes within the body. According to Gunnar, there is “a robust anti-inflammatory response. We see angiogenesis, the creation of new blood vessels [and] an increase in cerebral blood flow to the brain.” BPI has a hardshell monoplace hyperbaric chamber that reaches up to 1.8 atmospheric pressure. I only dove down to 1.3 atm because one of my ears refused to pop (not an uncommon occurrence) and spent the hour relaxing and reading medical journals (what a nerd).
Finally, it was time for me to experience the sauna and cryotherapy chamber while Dr. Thompson went into the HBO chamber. BPI features an infrared, conventional heater and red light sauna all in one. Since saunas have been around for a very long time (thousands of years, actually) there’s lots of research on its benefits. Dr. Thompson even went so far as to build a sauna in his garage as a COVID project.
After getting nice and toasty in the sauna for 25 minutes, I went straight into the cold chamber for five minutes. According to Gunnar, the stress response from cold water immersion is pretty intense, so “the cold room is a better starting point for our general population.” (BPI does have a cold plunge tub at their Post Falls facility, however, if you’re into that). The cold room is kept at minus 5 degrees so “you’re still going to get all the benefits from cold … and people aren’t going to want to be in there for any longer than five minutes.” I would agree that it was plenty cold, but not unbearable or extremely unpleasant.
The emerging evidence behind cold exposure for active recovery is quite fascinating. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, “cryotherapy chambers and cold-water immersion … have been shown to aid in muscle recovery and decrease muscle soreness. This is especially beneficial for those with injuries, swelling or those engaging in contact sports.”
After completing the two-hour protocol, our initial impression (placebo or not) was that we did feel more relaxed and Dr. Thompson also recorded a 10% increase in REM sleep the night after our session.
THE GOOD: Even if you don’t have access to hyperbaric oxygen, active recovery can also include doing less intense activities such as light yoga, foam rolling, massage or joint mobility exercises that can be incorporated into a rest day.
THE BAD: BPI offers a variety of packages, but if you want to use all of the modalities we tried, the cost starts at $100 for an intro session and goes all the way up to $1,499/month for an unlimited subscription.
THE NITTY GRITTY: According to the American College of Sports Medicine, “It’s important to remember, even if you aren’t feeling soreness after a workout, recovery is still important to prevent injuries and replenish what is lost after an exercise session.” And if you want to plunge into a cold chamber, hot sauna or HBO as part of your active recovery, the Biohacking and Recovery Center is here for you!
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Dr. Emry is a family physician and partner at Ironwood Family Practice in Coeur d’Alene. Exercise Explorer MD will appear every other week in The Press and Dr. Emry can be contacted via email exercisexplorermd@gmail.com. © 2024. This work is licensed under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.
Dr. Thompson, right, and Geoff Emry with the hyperbaric oxygen tank.