Infrared thermography for assessing skin temperature differences between Partial Body Cryotherapy and Whole Body Cryotherapy devices at −140 °C

•Differences between Partial Body Cryotherapy and Whole Body Cryotherapy treatments.•The skin temperature varies according to the vertical location of the body regions.•Increasingly from 15% on the lower areas and up to 53% for the upper areas.•Results should guide sports coaches and physicians in prescribing protocols. Because of the scarcity of the literature on the comparative efficiency of Partial Body Cryotherapy versus Whole Body Cryotherapy, it appears that the decision to switch from the former to the latter is purely arbitrary and does not actually meet any scientifically established criterion. The motivation of this study is to draw up an objective observation of the differences between Partial Body Cryotherapy and Whole Body Cryotherapy treatments, based on the analysis of skin temperature distribution. Ten healthy subjects who engage in regular physical activity participated in the study (50% female; means ± S.D.: age 45.8 ± 5.5 years, height 168.7 ± 9,3 cm, weight 75.3 ± 13.1 kg, body fat percentage 19.3 ± 9,8). Sessions took place in a cryosauna and a cryochamber at identical temperature (−140 °C), duration of cryostimulation (3 min) and nature of the refrigerant used (liquid nitrogen vapor). It is shown that the skin temperature difference between Partial Body Cryotherapy and Whole Body Cryotherapy varies according to the vertical location of the body regions, increasingly from 15% on the lower areas of the body (no significant difference in skin temperature for legs P = .171) up to 53% for the upper areas (significant difference P