PURIST: Can you recall the first time you tried a cryotherapy session, using extreme cold exposure for better health?
JOHN HOEKMAN: I felt like a superhero. I got out, and immediately felt a rush. It was like a supernatural high.
How has cryotherapy helped you?
Cryotherapy gives me more energy immediately, as well as more focus and clarity. I played ice hockey and football my whole life, and was a very aggressive, extreme skier ripping around in helicopters in Alaska, doing things that you really shouldn’t do, hurting myself, trying to get as much air on a wakeboard as I could. I’m 50 now, and have had a lot of surgeries—both shoulders operated on, hip and knees. I have a lot of body pain. Cryotherapy has taken a lot of it away.
What makes Quick Cryo different?
As I researched this around the country, I found that invariably cryotherapy was a very clinical experience, people in esthetician’s jackets and scrubs trying to do a lot of different things at the same time. It wasn’t very clean. If you’re paying that much for a service, it really has to be a super-luxury experience. I wanted people to feel like they were coming into the Four Seasons or the Mandarin Oriental instead of a Holiday Inn. One of the reported benefits of cryo is better sleep. In addition to whole-body cryo, we have local cryo, which is great for people with plantar’s fasciitis, carpal tunnel syndrome or spot injuries. Dancers love it on their feet; boxers love it on their hands and wrists. We also have compression, which is great for lymphatic drainage and for stimulating your circulatory system. Everyone who comes in really enjoys the cryo facial or “the frotox.” $85 per session; quickcryo.com