Cryotherapy studios sell the same promise as a home cold plunge, faster recovery, in a two-to-three-minute session of extremely cold air. They are often marketed as the high-tech version.
This article compares the two on how they work and what the evidence says. It sits under our overview of cold plunge benefits. It is general information, not medical advice.
Short answer: a cold plunge is water at around 50 to 59°F; whole-body cryotherapy is dry air below -100°C for 2 to 4 minutes. A Cochrane review found some evidence that cold water eases soreness, and another found too little evidence to say whether cryotherapy does. The FDA has not cleared or approved any whole-body cryotherapy device.
How each one works
| Cold plunge | Whole-body cryotherapy | |
|---|---|---|
| Medium | Water | Dry air, in a chamber or cabin |
| Temperature | 50 to 59°F to start, never below 40°F (Cleveland Clinic) | Below -100°C (Cochrane, 2015) |
| Time | A minute or two to start, never over five minutes | Two to four minutes per exposure |
| Where | At home or a gym | A studio or clinic |
Water pulls heat from your body much faster than air at the same temperature, which is why a chamber has to be so much colder. That is general physics, not a finding from the sources below.
What the evidence says for soreness
Cold water. A 2012 Cochrane review of 17 small trials found “some evidence that cold-water immersion reduces delayed onset muscle soreness after exercise compared with passive interventions.” The trials were low quality.
Cryotherapy. A 2015 Cochrane review found 4 trials with 64 people, almost all young men. Its conclusion: “There is insufficient evidence to determine whether whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) reduces self-reported muscle soreness, or improves subjective recovery.” All evidence was rated “very low” quality.
Here’s what the studio menu won’t tell you. The 2015 review found no trial that compared cryotherapy with cold water at all. So “cryotherapy works better than an ice bath” has no trial behind it in either review.
What the FDA says
An FDA consumer page on hot and cold therapy devices says: “Whole body cryotherapy presents a different set of risks and its healing benefits are unconfirmed.” An FDA adverse event record states: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not cleared or approved any whole body cryotherapy devices.”
The 2015 Cochrane review adds that none of its trials watched for side effects, and that “the exposure to extreme temperature presents a potential hazard.”
Who should check with a doctor first
For cold plunging, Cleveland Clinic lists heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, pregnancy, peripheral neuropathy, poor circulation, venous stasis, and cold agglutinin disease. The sources here give no equivalent list for cryotherapy chambers, so ask your doctor about either if any of those apply.
What each costs you
A chamber is a per-session cost at a studio; none of our product data covers studio prices, so I won’t quote one.
A plunge is a one-time purchase. An ice bath like the Polar Recovery tub is $89. A chiller tub like the Plunge Original is $8,490 and holds its temperature for daily use.
My rule of thumb: if soreness is the reason, the method with some evidence behind it is the one in your bathroom or backyard.
Bottom line: cold water has weak but real evidence for soreness; cryotherapy has too little to judge, and no device is FDA-cleared. If you want to try cold for recovery, a plunge is the better-studied choice. For the other claims, see the cold plunge benefits overview linked above.
Sources
- Costello JT, et al., “Whole-body cryotherapy (extreme cold air exposure) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise in adults,” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2015 (abstract): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Bleakley C, et al., “Cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise,” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2012 (abstract): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- FDA, “Cold Facts to Help Avoid Injury from Water-Circulating Hot/Cold Therapy Devices,” content current as of September 9, 2020: fda.gov
- FDA MAUDE adverse event report, whole body cryotherapy, February 6, 2018: accessdata.fda.gov
- Cleveland Clinic, “Are ‘Cold Plunge’ Ice Baths Good for You?” May 8, 2026: health.clevelandclinic.org
- Polar Recovery and Plunge Original listings, checked September and October 2026