Tabisz, Hanna, Modlinska, Aleksandra, Kujawski, Sławomir et al. · British medical bulletin · 2023 · DOI
This review article examines whole-body cryotherapy (WBC)—exposing your entire body to very cold temperatures—as a possible treatment for various chronic conditions, including ME/CFS. The authors suggest that because WBC appears to reduce inflammation in the body, it might help conditions involving persistent inflammation. However, they emphasize that current research quality is low and that proper clinical trials are needed before we can know if WBC actually works.
This editorial identifies ME/CFS as a potential candidate for WBC treatment due to its proposed anti-inflammatory and pleiotropic effects, which could address the multi-system dysfunction characteristic of ME/CFS. The authors' call for rigorous research on WBC in ME/CFS highlights an emerging therapeutic avenue that researchers should formally investigate, potentially opening new treatment options for patients.
This editorial review does not provide clinical evidence that WBC actually works for ME/CFS or any other condition—it is a theoretical discussion based on existing literature. The authors explicitly state that current studies are low-quality and that no conclusions can be drawn without proper randomized controlled trials. This article cannot establish causation or efficacy; it only suggests WBC warrants further investigation.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Tabisz, Hanna, Modlinska, Aleksandra, Kujawski, Sławomir, Słomko, Joanna, & Zalewski, Pawel (2023). Whole-body cryotherapy as a treatment for chronic medical conditions?. British medical bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldad007
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-tabisz-2023-whole-body,
author = {Tabisz, Hanna and Modlinska, Aleksandra and Kujawski, Sławomir and Słomko, Joanna and Zalewski, Pawel},
title = {Whole-body cryotherapy as a treatment for chronic medical conditions?},
journal = {British medical bulletin},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1093/bmb/ldad007},
note = {PubMed: 37170956},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tabisz-2023-whole-body},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tabisz-2023-whole-body
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